Pubdate: Thu, 09 Dec 2004
Source: Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, NJ)
Copyright: 2004 Courier-Post
Contact:  http://www.courierpostonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/826
Author: Richard Pearsall

MAN TO FIGHT ARREST AT BUSH RALLY

Trial To Be Held Today In Evesham Municipal Court

EVESHAM -- Jim Miller came to a President Bush rally here Oct. 18 to 
protest the president's opposition to medical marijuana.

The Ocean County man is expected to return today from his home in Dover 
Township, this time to answer charges stemming from that rally.

The only person arrested on a day when supporters and opponents of the 
president were kept strictly segregated, Miller was charged with disorderly 
conduct for "obstructing traffic by pushing an unoccupied wheelchair in the 
roadway and refusing to obey police instructions" to remove it and himself 
from the road.

"He was asked to move and advised that he would be arrested if he didn't," 
Evesham Police Capt. Frank Locantore said Wednesday. "He actually told the 
police officers he wanted to be arrested."

Miller was pushing a wheelchair that belonged to his wife, Cheryl, who died 
in June 2003 after a long struggle with multiple sclerosis.

The Millers began pushing for legislation to legalize marijuana for medical 
purposes, for victims of cancer and AIDS as well as MS, more than a decade ago.

A bill to accomplish that goal has been drafted by two members of the state 
Assembly, Reed Gusciora, D-Princeton, and Michael Patrick Carroll, R-Morris 
Township, Morris County.

Carroll said the bill could be introduced as early as Monday.

"There's no such thing as an evil plant," Carroll said Wednesday. "If a 
doctor says this should have a salutary effect, it should be permitted."

Eleven states have passed medical marijuana laws since 1996, but those laws 
have been challenged by the Bush administration in recent years.

A case involving the California law is now before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Opponents contend the medical laws are too easily used to enable more 
general use.

Miller said that at the time he was arrested he was trying to leave a 
parking area along with automobiles that were moving slowly.

He said he believes he was stopped because the sign attached to the 
wheelchair, accusing Bush of "flip flopping" on the marijuana issue, 
identified him as an opponent of the president.

Miller said that he will represent himself in Municipal Court today and 
will argue, among other things, against the language of the statute he is 
charged with violating.

The disorderly persons statute refers to creating a "risk of public 
inconvenience, annoyance or alarm by creating a hazardous condition by an 
act which served no legitimate purpose of the defendant."

Miller will argue he was keeping a deathbed promise to his wife to continue 
the effort to make marijuana available for medical purposes.

Municipal court begins at 8 a.m. and begins hearing contested cases at 10 a.m.