From: alanb@sonic.net   
      
   Unlawful Arrest of Patients   
      
      
      
   Qualified Persons under the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 are patients with   
   a recommendation from their physician as well as these patients’ primary   
   caregivers.  There are no other qualifications.  Qualified Persons are   
   clearly exempt from marijuana prohibition laws, as upheld by our California   
   Supreme Court in the Mower decision in 2002.  Mower is currently the   
   controlling precedent by law.  Our Supreme Court held:   
      
      
      
   As a result of the enactment of section 11362.5(d), the possession and   
   cultivation of marijuana is no more criminal-so long as its conditions are   
   satisfied-than the possession and acquisition of any prescription drug with   
   a physician's prescription.  [ People v. Mower, 28 Cal 4th 457, 482].   
      
      
      
   … in view of his or her status as a qualified patient or primary caregiver,   
   the grand jury or the magistrate should not indict or commit the defendant   
   in the first place, but instead should bring the prosecution to an end at   
   that point.  [Mower, ibid. 473]   
      
      
      
   Evidence of a defendant’s status as a qualified patient or primary caregiver   
   exculpates him or her from guilt of the crimes of possession or cultivation   
   of marijuana, because such a status renders possession and cultivation of   
   marijuana noncriminal.  [Mower, ibid. 485, FN5]   
      
      
      
   Does our Sheriff have authority to set plant limits?  If so, where is this   
   authority?  Perhaps we patients should be asking him to cite his authority   
   to arrest patients, disrupting lives with handcuffs, jail cells, bail bonds,   
   attorney fees, and court hearings?    Remember, our state Supreme Court held   
   that medical marijuana is a non-criminal matter.   
      
      
      
   Perhaps some of us think that SB420 enacted by our Legislature makes   
   patients criminals via plant limits.  In fact, SB420 is a voluntary   
   regulatory program and may not repeal or amend the Compassionate Use Act of   
   1996 enacted by initiative of the electorate  (in other words:  We the   
   People who vote).   
      
      
      
   California Constitution Article10, Section 2(c).   
      
      
      
   [The Legislature] may amend or repeal an initiative statute by another   
   statute that becomes effective only when approved by the electors….   
      
      
      
   The next time a patient is arrested or their marijuana property seized by   
   the Sheriff or other state law enforcement officer, should not we patients   
   demand that the officers be held accountable for their unlawful activity?   
   The Compassionate Use Act does not list any plant limits.  Why are some   
   patients negotiating plant limits with law enforcement, that is still, 8   
   years later, involved in unlawful activities?   
      
      
      
   We appreciate you Questions, Comments and Input.  Contact us at   
   commonsenselaw@yahoo.com   
      
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