Pubdate: Fri, 06 Feb 2009
Source: Desert Dispatch, The (Victorville, CA)
Copyright: 2009 Freedom Communications, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.desertdispatch.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3218
Author: Charles Nguyen
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

JUDGE ORDERS RETURN OF MAN'S MARIJUANA

BARSTOW   M.J. Somers said he wanted to live by the law -- and that's 
why he got his medical marijuana permit.

I know it sounds weird, but I went for the weed license because I try 
to be a law-abiding citizen," said the 27-year-old Helendale 
resident. "I'm not a fiend for marijuana that gets it from the corner 
or the streets. I just need to smoke because I have health problems 
- -- and that's it."

But Somers, who has a doctor-issued license to carry up to eight 
ounces to treat chronic what he calls "chronic muscle pains and 
seizures," said he felt like criminal when he was stopped by Barstow 
sheriff's deputies on Route 66 in early January. During the traffic 
stop, deputies confiscated close to an ounce of medical-grade 
marijuana Somer said he had just purchased from a clinic in Los Angeles.

In a Barstow courtroom on Jan. 29, Judge Steve Mapes ordered the 
marijuana's return after Somers presented his legal permit. Somers 
said Mapes cited a similar case in Garden Grove in 2005 where a 
district court ordered the return of one-third of an ounce of 
marijuana police had confiscated in a traffic stop. An appeal by 
Garden Grove officials was refused by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008.

Mapes could not be reached for comment.

Somer's case highlights a conflict for county law enforcement 
agencies, according to Lt. Rick Ells, a spokesman for the San 
Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. The county is currently 
challenging a state law that requires it to issue legal 
identification cards to medical marijuana patients, claiming that 
doing so would violate federal law that prohibits marijuana use.

Our deputies ... [that] are sworn to uphold both federal and state 
laws are faced with a dilemma as to which law to enforce," Ells said.

San Bernardino and San Diego County filed their case on Jan. 16 with 
the U.S. Supreme Court, which will accept or reject it later this 
year. Until the case is decided, Ells said the county will continue 
to uphold federal law prohibiting marijuana use, "until we receive 
clarification from the courts."

Ells said he could not comment on Somers' specific case because he 
had not yet seen a copy of the court order.

People stopped by county deputies in possession of the drug will have 
it seized and receive a citation, Ells said. Deputies will document 
the existence of the medical marijuana card in the report they send 
to the district attorney, who decides if the case will be pursued, he said.

The resistance to medical marijuana at local levels of government and 
law enforcement is dwindling, according to Kris Hermes, spokesman for 
Americans for Safe Access, the Oakland-based medical marijuana 
advocacy group that represented the Garden Grove man.

There are a few hostile counties like San Bernardino that still stand 
against medical marijuana," Hermes said. "But landmark rulings like 
the Garden Grove case are helping us fully implement and see 
enforcement of state law."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom