December 11, 2010 – U.S.A. v. Smith et al is a landmark cannabis case that could change federal medical marijuana law for all 50 states.

This is the first case in which a defendant in the United States has been allowed to raise an affirmative medical marijuana defense in federal court.

Cormac J. Carney is the presiding federal judge in U.S. v Smith. In a courageous and historic ruling he decided that the medical marijuana issues will be heard as testimony. This is the first time this has happened in U.S. history.

This story started in 2001 when Steele Smith — a law abiding business man — became very ill. He landed in an emergency room. Over the next four months it happened several more times. But the doctors could not figure out what was wrong. He was prescribed pain medication, and lost 40 pounds. Ultimately a rare diseases doctor diagnosed Steele’s disease as Zollinger-Ellison (Z-E). The disease causes painful ulcers, making it difficult for patients to eat and is so rare most doctors have never seen it. The result is extreme pain and nausea. Doctors prescribed him the strongest acid reducing drug available. For the severe pain, the doctor also prescribed high doses of morphine and sent him to a specialist (a pain doctor) who ordered a morphine regimen.

Steele became heavily addicted to morphine. With the support of his wife starting in 2004, he began to try and “kick” his morphine addiction. It almost killed him and he ended up in the intensive care unit (ICU). Over the next year and a half Steele battled his morphine addiction. After painstaking research he found a new drug, Suboxone, and under the care of a doctor over several weeks he was finally able to become completely drug free. However the under lying pain and nausea returned. He was unable to eat or live a normal life. After more research Steele was given a medical marijuana recommendation. He bought his marijuana at one of the dispensaries in Los Angeles.

His recovery is nothing short of miraculous with his pain and nausea now controlled using cannabis, Steele was able to eat again and his health returned. There are no dispensaries in Orange county where the Smith’s live so they must travel to L.A. to buy cannabis.

Steele and Theresa decide to open a small collective — California Compassionate Caregivers — in their home. After researching the law and proposition 215, they began to grow cannabis for safe access patients. Within a few months they found their patient base growing and by 2006 it reached over 1,000.

This did not escape the attention of the local police department. Officers from the Placentia Police Department came to the Steele home, seizing 18 plants, patient records, 4 pounds of medical marijuana, a small amount of concentrate and cash, but no charges were filed. After unsuccessfully trying to get his property and records returned repeatedly and after seeking legal advice, Steele decided to sue the city of Placentia, again simply seeking the return of his property.

The city of Placentia retaliated and moved the case to a federal level. This quashed Mr. Smith’s standing in the civil court, effectively killing the lawsuit. But that was not the end of it as the Smith’s were about to find out.

On Nov. 1, 2007 in an early morning raid, federal agents stormed the Smith’s two homes using paramilitary style tactics. Officers wearing masks and paramilitary gear broke down the front door and rousted the sleeping couple at gunpoint, holding them at gun point through out the raid. The agents abused the couples dogs by spraying them with a fire extinguisher. One of dogs died four days later.

As is standard procedure during marijuana raids nationwide the officers destroy the home during the search that followed. The home — as are most homes raided like this — was totally vandalized. In Hawaii county where I have lived for 30 years they conduct their marijuana raids in exactly the same way. Doors and gates are broken down, then left wide open for any and all of the public to take furniture and belongings at will. In Hawaii the police also rob these homes taking anything they want, cooking dinner, and joy ridding vehicles around the neighborhoods as they harass the neighbors searching there homes also even with out search warrants or probable cause.

In the Smith’s case the police also went to C3′s medical dispensary. They seized 2 pounds of medical marijuana and a small amount of concentrate. Police left the door wide open, inviting theft and vandals there also.

Steele, Theresa, Alex Valentine, a young patient with Elephant man’s syndrome and over thirty surgeries, and Dennis La Londe, a homeless man recently given shelter, were jailed. All but Theresa spent most of the next year in a maximum security, level-five Federal prison in Los Angeles. They were all charged with conspiracy to manufacture or grow marijuana and are facing ten years in federal prison.

Theresa was released after 2 months but forced to post a $200,000 bond, using her dying mother’s home and two signatures to meet the requirements of the bond. The remaining defendants suffered in federal prison for another 10 months. When Steele was finally released he had to wear an electronic ankle bracelet for another year. All the defendants to this day are still required to report regularly to federal pre-trial services.

While medical marijuana is not technically a legal defense, for the first time in U.S history the defendants will be able to testify to the jury that they were operating under prop 215. That testimony will show they were in complete compliance with California law, and the collective was very professionally run to provide safe access for patients in Orange county. The DEA is (as they always do) portraying these legal patients as ordinary drug dealers. But this time, for the first time, the jury will hear the other side.

In an interesting twist the government has offered a deal for time served to Steele. To his credit and at great risk to himself, he has decided not to take the deal and faces up to ten years in federal prison for that decision. Steele Smith wants to go to trial because he believes the issues are too important and need to be adjudicated. He is in a fight to uphold the Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, protecting States’ rights to allow their citizens safe, legal access to medical marijuana. The Smiths are true heroes and deserve our support.

For more information, please contact:

Theresa Smith
2166 W. Broadway, #100
Anaheim, CA 92804-2446
714-865-5335
theresasmith.steelescase@gmail.com

Some links on the case:

* http://www.steelescase.org/
* http://www.steelescase.org/?page=related
* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz7O0dmVhkE

Tuesday, 20 Apr 2010 – In case you forgot American Government 101, the U.S. has a federal system in which states can make their own laws. Nowhere is that more evident than with marijuana policy.

Laws differ drastically state-to-state, and certain states are significantly more progressive than others.

Here’s a look at some of the states with more moderate or lenient laws; as a rule they tend to be in the West and Northeast, the places with more marijuana users.

Mellow California

The state-leader in marijuana reform is California. Though Oregon was the first to decriminalize possession of small amounts in 1973, the Golden State followed shortly after, and broke the mold by allowing medical marijuana in 1996.

Possession of less than a ounce merits a $100 fine, and while trafficking is still a felony, the sale of any amount is punishable by two to four years in prison without any fine.

In February 2009, however, State Assembly member Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) introduced another piece of landmark legislation, AB 390, the first bill of its kind to call for taxation and regulation of marijuana.

Though the bill expired and was replaced with a newer version, AB 2254, Quintin Mecke, Communications Director for Ammiano says, “the momentum regarding legalization and the conversation around overall drug policy really took off last year in ways that I’m not sure that even we expected when we first introduced the bill.”

Gabriel Bouys | AFP | Getty Images

Since then, reform advocates, led by Richard Lee, owner of Oaksterdam University, a school that teaches people how to harvest, cultivate and run their own medical marijuana dispensaries, collected enough signatures to secure a ballot measure, that will allow California residents to vote about whether to tax and regulate the drug in November 2010.

Though the ballot item is different from Ammiano’s bill in that counties must “opt in” to the legalization model rather than it being uniform legislation, it represents a huge opportunity for reform advocates.

If the vote is yes, Meckle says, those counties that are actively regulating marijuana and have dispensaries will be the ones that will quickly get up and running.

“There is a general assumption is that a lot of new counties are not going to come online,” he adds. “The counties that are currently supportive of the issue have created a system, and no one wants to reinvent the wheel if there is already a system in place for medical.”

Although Marijuana Policy Project spokesman Mike Meno says it is too early to say what November’s vote will conclude, he points to a field poll done in May 2009 that showed that 56 percent of Californians supported ending marijuana prohibition.

A good portion of this is happening right now due to the state’s economic problems. The economics are presenting a window for the larger reform conversation, which has been building for quite a long time.

“We can’t continue to keep our heads stuck in the sand and pretend that this current model of prohibition works in any way shape or form. Our drug policies are an abject failure. Anyone who looks at the situation with regards to the Mexican violence on the border has got to be literally smoking something,” Meckle says.

California’s legislative is considering a number of other bills, from reducing adult possession penalties to medical marijuana-related paraphernalia.

Continental Divide

Other western states like Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Hawaii and Alaska also have progressive marijuana policies. (Two-term New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson called for legalization in 1998.)

Cities like Denver, Portland, Oregon, Missoula, Montana as well as cluster in California (Oakland, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and San Mateo) have made pot use the lowest of priorities for local police departments.

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Oregon, also one of the earliest states to sanction medical use, continues to reform its laws. There are currently more than a dozen bills in the state legislature, covering everything from medical users and the workplace to sentencing to the creation of a task force to study driving while under the influence.

Hawaii is considering legislation to reduce the already-light penalty for possession under an ounce.

In Alaska, marijuana is also both decriminalized and allowed medically. It also has a low arrest rate based on the user population. According to the Marijuana Policy Almanac, compiled by Jon Gettman, Criminal Justice Professor at Virginia’s Shenandoah University and public policy consultant, Alaska ranks 49th in arrest rates nationally. In 2007, of the state’s 74,000 users, only 1.4 percent were arrested.

This is markedly lower than a state like Kentucky, which ranked third, with 5.8 percent of the 350,000 users being arrested. Both New Mexico and Colorado allow medical marijuana and are considering taxation and regulation, as well as decriminalization.

On the other side of country, Rhode Island also has relatively liberal marijuana policy. First off, it passed medical marijuana two years ago. Bills on reduced penalties for adult possession and outright possession, manufacture and sale of limited amounts are pending.

Rhode Island also ranks 47th In Gettman’s Marijuana Policy Almanac in terms of arrest rates; of their 144,000 annual users, 1,463 people are arrested each year.

Like other states in the Northeast, Rhode Island has a relatively high proportion of users compared to its total population. This is why, says Gettman, their interests may be better represented. In the Ocean State, for example, there are 144,000 annual users, out of a total population of 1.05 million.

In California, there are 3.3 million users out of 36.6 million people. These ratios are higher than in a state like Delaware, which has a more conservative marijuana policy and an estimated 79,000 users and 865,000 residents.

Law And Economics

Getty Images

In a traditional Blue State like Rhode Island, one might think that reform would move quickly. However, this is not the case. One of the reasons is that the state likes to be methodical, and in June 2009, legislators formed the Special Senate Commission to Study the Prohibition of Marijuana in Rhode Island. The Commission’s Chair, Rep. Joshua Miller (D-Cranston) says that Rhode Island likes to have experts come in and look at issues.

“Once medical marijuana was behind us, those of us who were interested wanted to start a conversation about decriminalization.” They waited because they didn’t want medical marijuana to lose any momentum as a result of other potential initiatives.

Knowing Rhode Island’s major fiscal problems, Miller says proponents knew the only way they would be taken seriously is if they could demonstrate some kind of positive impact on the state budget.

Though morality and civil liberties are still relevant issues in the broader debate, the Commission found that there are serious budgetary advantages to decriminalization, and that treatment is a better policy than incarceration.

“I think the public sentiment is very favorable towards it, but whether it has legislative momentum is a whole other thing,” says Miller.

Miller says the only way decriminalization will be passed before the session ends in June is if it is seen as having an important role in solving pressing state fiscal problems, for example, flooding or the budget crisis. Otherwise, Miller says, it will have to wait until next year.

Of the other states in the Northeast, Maine also has a liberal policy—it allows medical marijuana and has decriminalized possession.

The state also comes in 40th on the Marijuana Policy Almanac’s arrest-rate ranking based on user population with 2.3 percent of the 143,000 state users arrested. The sale of less than a pound is a misdemeanor, punishable by one year in jail and a $2,000 fine.

“I want to be very clear, there’s no knocking the South here,” says Gettman. “There are states in the south that have very reasonable policies about marijuana – North Carolina and Mississippi both have decriminalization. Georgia also has a lenient policy for first offenders with small amounts.”

Though times seem to be changing, Gettman points out in his blog that there are many obstacles to marijuana law reform, citing overconfidence on the part of reformers as the No. 1 barrier: “While many marijuana users think legalization will never occur, it seems that just as many are so convinced it is inevitable they don’t bother to take part in activities to bring it about.”  Source.