Buzzby

Merced Man Wants Medical Pot Returned
Police chief: Federal law won't permit it
Leslie Albrecht | Modesto Bee | 11/24/2005

People often assume Grant Wilson has AIDS.

But it's the hepatitis C that has whittled his 6-foot frame to 130 pounds.

"It has been eating me alive from the inside out," said Wilson, 49.

In his effort to get healthy enough to take care of his three children, Wilson has been using medical marijuana.

"It helps me get the munchies," said Wilson. "My doctor wants me to put some weight on my body so my immune system can fight back and my liver can regenerate."

But when Merced police discovered Wilson's pot plants in September, they arrested him on suspicion of cultivating marijuana, a felony.

After five days in jail, Wilson was released when the district attorney's office decided not to prosecute.

Wilson wants his pot plants back.

No way, says Merced Police Chief Tony Dossetti.

"The United States Supreme Court is the one that sets the law for everyone in the country," Dossetti said. "Until the federal law is changed, I can't give him back his marijuana. We are citizens of the United States who happen to live in California."

Medical marijuana has been legal in California since voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996.

However, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year held that federal laws prohibiting the use of medical marijuana remain in effect regardless of state laws.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said medical marijuana is still legal no matter what the Supreme Court says.

Wilson said a judge's court order and his medical marijuana patient ID card authorize him to grow and possess marijuana.

"It's not like I'm one of these guys that's trying to pull one over on somebody," Wilson said. "I'm a true patient. I got my prescription from a gastroenterologist and hematologist.

"I'm not one of these guys that stubbed my toe and said, 'Can I get a card?'"

But Wilson has a diagnosis, not a prescription, from his doctor, Dossetti said, and his patient ID card, issued by San Francisco's Department of Public Health, isn't valid in Merced County.

"He doesn't comply with state law," Dossetti said.

To Wilson, it's the police who are breaking state law.

"I would like my property back," Wilson said. "It's illegal for them to do this."

He has filed an appeal with the Merced County Superior Court to try to force police to return his marijuana.

"This is a classic conflict between federal and state rights," Chief Deputy District Attorney Larry Morse said. "The state of California has approved the use of marijuana for medical reasons. But the feds still forbid the possession of marijuana. They don't recognize state statutes. That trickles down to the counties, who are left to sort this out."

As for Wilson, "He's caught in a whipsaw between agencies as to how it's being resolved," Morse said.

Wilson has been drinking a lot of Ensure nutrition shakes to try to get his weight up. He also takes herbs like milk thistle to help his liver. Every two weeks, he goes to the hospital for a blood cell count.

"I'm stuck in limbo until some new medicine comes up or I start gaining weight and my body builds up my liver," Wilson said. "By locking me up and taking away my medicine, they're not helping me any."

For now, Dossetti said, police hands are tied.

"We've got federal law that says we can't do it, state law says we can," Dossetti said. "If I give his marijuana back, the DEA could come and arrest me.

"I struggle because I see both sides of the argument. I have compassion for these people who are sick. But we're in a position where we can't let emotion rule us. We have to do what the law says."

__________________

Cassius

Sad, sad, sad that he's more scared of the DEA arresting him if he breaks federal law than of state cops arresting for NOT breaking federal law. I hope they do.

__________________

{ Cassius, Your Humble Narrator }
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Buzzby

California's attorney general has instructed the CHP not to arrest people with valid doctor's recommendations or ID cards if they have amounts of marijuana that are within the guidelines. He doesn't have jurisdiction over local police. I've never heard of a case of the DEA arresting police officers for enforcing state marijuana statutes which run contrary to the federal marijuana laws. I don't think it's likely to happen.

The DEA is very wary of pushing federal laws over state medical marijuana laws. It generates too much bad press and makes them look like ogres who are cruel to sick people. There have been 20 CA medical marijuana patients arrested on various federal charges over the course of the decade in which that state has had legal medical marijuana. There are currently 100,000 medical marijuana patients in California.

killer12382

Has there been any case where the DEA arrested a state or local official in reguards to them acting on a state marijuana law?
Here are some interesting questions:
Do the cops fear the DEA or do they just resent the state medpot law and don't want to deal with it?
I'd like to see the cops give back the medpot and then have the DEA act against the police. This would make an interesting federal case.

oneluv4boognish

Has anyone taken this to the federal level and challenged the CA law in the Supreme Court? I might seem ignorant, but in this area i really am. If no one has, then it sounds like the ***** scared of the DEA needs to go back to civics class and read up on the way this government works.

killer12382

Indirectly. The feds haven't struck down the state laws but have established their domination on this subject by having the supreme court declare that the FDA is in charge of drugs along with the DEA.