Prosecution Of Placer County
Medical Marijuana Growers
Has Major Implications For Kubby Case.
(Marijuananews note: The prosecution of the
Baldwins before the Kubby trial is a real advantage for the Kubbys. If the Baldwins
win, as they should, the prosecution of the Kubbys will look even more blatantly
political.
Even if the Baldwins lose, the Kubbys will have gained major insights for their
defense. The circumstances are very similar, although the Baldwins had fewer plants. If
the Kubbys were to win as the result of what they learned from the conviction of the
Baldwins, then an appeal by the Baldwins would be strengthened.
There are two substantive legal questions.
First, can law enforcement arbitrarily set a number of plants that a genuine medical
marijuana user can have, without regard to the patient’s needs? The law has no such
limit.
Second, can intent to sell be proven simply because a person has a certain number of
plants?
As Todd McCormick pointed out, if your life and well-being depended on a plant, how
many would you grow?
If the prohibitionists want to set limits on the number of plants that patients can
grow for themselves, then they must first assure the patients that there will be a safe
and affordable supply of all the marijuana that the patients may need, when they need it.
Of course, the state cannot do that under any circumstances. Moreover, when local law
enforcement declares that Prop 215 does not apply in their jurisdiction, nothing that they
say should be taken seriously. They are not acting in good faith.)
See
The Connection
Between The Federal Case And The Kubby Case:
The Oakland Model Is Based On The Federal Government’s Own Medical Marijuana Program;
Steve Kubby Based His Level Of Marijuana Cultivation On Oakland’s
WAS POT FOR PAIN OR FOR PROFIT? 146 PLANTS FOUND AT LOOMIS HOME
April 14, 1999
From the Sacramento Bee
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By WAYNE WILSON BEE STAFF WRITER
How much pot is too much pot when you’ve got a note from your doctor?
Placer County prosecutors began putting that question to a jury in Auburn on Tuesday,
claiming that a Loomis couple’s garden of 146 marijuana plants would produce more
than the relaxation necessary to treat their medical conditions.
Dr. Michael A. Baldwin and his wife, Georgia, are charged with cultivation and
possession of marijuana for sale in a case that is being watched closely by both sides
waging war over the medical use of the drug.
The Baldwins were arrested at their home Sept. 23 by
sheriff’s agents who found taped to the grow room door a physician’s letters
authorizing each to use marijuana as treatment for physical ailments that had disrupted
their lives for years.
In an opening statement on behalf of Georgia Baldwin, attorney J. Tony Serra said it
was "sad and cruel and preposterous" to charge the respected, career-minded pair
with possession for sale.
"Intent was not present and cannot be proven," Serra declared.
Both Baldwins received their written recommendations from a national authority on pain
management and "did everything humanly possible to fulfill the mandate of the
law," Proposition 215, California’s Compassionate Use Act, Serra said.
But Deputy District Attorney David H. Tellman told the jury that the Baldwins abused
their prescriptions by nurturing 126 plants in a "nursery" under their Loomis
home and 20 more in a specially constructed grow room in the garage.
Tellman said his experts will testify that each of the 146 plants could yield 3 to 6
ounces of bud marijuana, a total in excess of 20 pounds, far more than necessary to meet
their medical needs.
But Serra said the prosecutor’s "experts are, in reality, law enforcers who
gained their knowledge by pulling, seizing, destroying and killing these plants."
He said the defense will produce its own expert, a renowned authority on the subject,
who will testify that the plants seized by officers would not have been enough to meet the
Baldwins’ medical needs.
Michael Baldwin’s attorney, Laurence J. Lichter, told the jury that his client
"knew he wasn’t the greatest gardener in the world" because he had earlier
attempted to grow orchids but failed.
Lichter also said there were no established guidelines for medical users.
"The law doesn’t tell anybody how many plants you can
grow," he said.
Both attorneys said their clients benefited greatly from the use of marijuana.
Michael Baldwin, afflicted since childhood with migraine headaches and chronic back
pain, had access to very powerful painkillers as a dentist but turned instead to cannabis,
Lichter said.
And Gloria Baldwin, who came to her marriage to Michael with a "physiological
deficit" that renders her "practically immobile for up to a day and a half"
each month, gave marijuana a try only after she saw the benefits it brought to her husband
and after she had consulted her doctor, Serra said.
Gloria Baldwin balked at smoking the substance because she "didn’t want smoke
in her lungs," so she learned how to use it as a butter in her cooking, a process
that requires more raw material than a joint, Serra explained.
She couldn’t believe it when police "rushed into her
life with guns drawn, handcuffs in hand," and arrested her, Serra told the jury.
"She cried and told them, ‘This is legal. Look, there’s our
recommendation,’ " Serra related.
But the officers "turned the house upside down and carted her off to jail"
and she subsequently was charged with possessing the drug for sale, "predicated, in
the main, on the basis of too many plants," Serra told the jury.
Tellman argued that the number of plants, combined with the
discovery of small plastic bags and a scale in the kitchen, suggested that the drugs were
intended, at least in part, for sale.
(Marijuananews note: Almost every serious cook has both plastic bags and scales in the
kitchen. Someone who uses marijuana in cooking would certainly need both.)
Copyright: 1999 The Sacramento Bee
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