Source: MSNBC (Los Angeles, CA) 
Contact:  
Website: http://www.msnbc.com/local/KNBC/ 
Pubdate: October 19, 1998

MCCORMICK TESTS POSITIVE FOR POT

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 19 - Medical marijuana advocate Todd McCormick, who was
arrested last year for budding a pasture of pot in a rented Bel-Air
mansion, has again tested positive for marijuana use, a prosecutor said
Monday.

McCormick, who is awaiting trial, tested positive several times before and
claimed it was due to his use of hemp products and Marinol, a synthetic
form of marijuana.

Reached by phone in Berkeley, where he did a seminar on medical marijuana
with actor Woody Harrelson and former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic,
McCormick called the accusation "a bunch of crap."

Upon an agreement with the government, McCormick paid $17,500 to be given a
special, highly sensitive test that differentiates between marijuana and
similar products, like hemp.

That test was used and now McCormick has tested positive five times for
THC-V, a substance only found in marijuana, said Assistant U.S. Attorney
Fernando Aenlle-Rocha.

McCormick said he has been taking Marinol but denies smoking pot. He claims
the government is trying to "extort" the $500,000 cash bail Harrelson
posted for him.

A bail revocation hearing is set for 2 p.m. Wednesday, but McCormick said
his lawyers will ask that it be postponed.

McCormick says he needs marijuana to treat pain brought on by several bouts
of cancer and the fused vertebrae in his back.

He believes he had the right to grow the pot under Proposition 215, the
medical marijuana initiative California voters approved in 1996.

"This is their attempt to subvert the will of the people," he said Monday.
"They want to control what you put in your body."
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Checked-by: Richard Lake