Pubdate: Thu, 24 Nov 2005
Source: Chico News & Review, The (CA)
Section: Lead News
Copyright: 2005 Chico Community Publishing, Inc
Contact:  http://www.newsreview.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/559
Author: Josh Indar
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

PROBATION OR PROHIBITION?

Treatment Courts At Odds With Prop. 215 Patients

A Butte County medical marijuana patient who is on probation for 
domestic violence is hoping she won't be made an example of, as she 
fears county prosecutors are gearing up to "take [her] to war" over 
her use of medical cannabis.

"I have serious polycystic ovarian disease. It causes pain 
constantly," Holly Hogan, a defendant in the county's Domestic 
Violence Own Recognizance (DVOR) program, said.

"I've had this condition for over two years. I told them I had this 
disease and I have to smoke marijuana. It's the only thing that helps 
the pain."

Yet she said she was told in court that if she doesn't quit using 
pot, she may end up being used as a test case to challenge 
California's medical marijuana law, at least as far as it relates to 
people on probation.

Hogan, 24, landed in the court system when she got into a fight with 
the father of her 4-year-old son at his Chico home last September. 
She spent four days in jail and was recommended for DVOR, a court 
program that basically places defendants on probation and rewards or 
punishes their behavior during a year-long observation phase. 
Defendants in such "treatment court" or "behavioral court" programs 
are barred from taking drugs or alcohol and often must attend 
meetings and counseling sessions meant to help them deal with their 
underlying problems.

Hogan has smoked marijuana to treat her pain for at least two years. 
While she was on probation, she got a doctor's recommendation for 
medical marijuana under the state's Compassionate Use law. But the 
terms of her probation forbid her from taking unauthorized drugs, 
medical, legal or otherwise.

This conflict in the law has set up a situation in which prosecutors, 
defendants, patients and probation officers are having a hard time 
figuring out when a defendant has violated probation.

"Now they want to put me in jail for two years," Hogan lamented. 
"[Treatment court prosecutor] Helen Harberts told probation to write 
me a violation. They want me to go to rehab for medical marijuana, 
but I can't afford it. I actually do have a medical condition that 
requires surgery."

Harberts, when contacted for comment, said in an e-mail that she 
wasn't able to talk about specific cases. But she acknowledged that 
treatment courts are increasingly having difficulties with defendants 
using Prop. 215 recommendations in a way that Harberts said amounts 
to a loophole that allows them to continue using marijuana while on probation.

"If people are in a court program for addiction issues, they must 
abstain from all addictive substances without prior permission of 
their probation officer," Harberts wrote. "People get addicted to 
both legal and illegal drugs. We serve many pharmaceutical drug 
addicts in our courts. Marijuana is different only in the context 
that it is not pharmaceutical grade."

Harberts went on to state that allowing court participants to smoke 
marijuana undermines their treatment programs. Citing a study by 
Berkeley clinical researcher Mark Stanford, Ph.D., Harberts said that 
marijuana has proven to be addictive and is therefore "a dangerous 
substance for addicts."

Other studies, however, such as one conducted by Loyola College's 
Daniel M. Perrine, Ph.D., have rated marijuana's addictive properties 
as being less than that of coffee or cigarettes. While marijuana has 
been used as a medicine for at least 5,000 years, it is currently 
designated by the federal government as a Schedule I illegal 
substance, which classifies it as extremely harmful and having no 
accepted medical use. According to various studies, more than 20 
million Americans have used marijuana in the past year and more than 
30 percent of Americans have tried it, making it the most widely used 
illicit drug in the U.S.

While advocates tout its benefits as an appetite enhancer, pain 
reliever and relaxant, detractors of medical marijuana tend to 
believe that the medpot movement is a Trojan horse for drug legalization.

Hogan said she has made every court appearance and follows the 
program as well as she is able, but doesn't want to stop using what 
she said is the only drug that eases her pain.

"I'm like a shining star on probation," she said. "I could see if I 
was on meth, but this is state law. I have a valid recommendation."

Harberts sees it another way.

"For me, this is a treatment and addiction issue," she wrote. "I do 
not believe the voters ever intended Prop. 215 to permit addicted 
offenders to use addicting drugs. If necessary, we will look for a 
test case to see if exceptions can be carved into the law."

Hogan will find out if hers is indeed the aforementioned test case on 
her next court date, Nov. 28.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman