Bill Would Allow Medical Marijuana Defense in Federal Drug Trials
April 10, 2003
Associated Press
Legislation introduced in Congress Thursday would give people accused by federal authorities of growing marijuana the right to present evidence at trial that the marijuana was to help the sick, which is allowed in Washington and seven other states.
The bill is the latest development in the simmering controversy over the Bush administration's decision to prosecute people in those eight states who say they are growing marijuana for medical purposes.
A 1970 federal law does not recognize any medical purposes for marijuana. A federal judge refused in January to allow Ed Rosenthal of Oakland, Calif., to tell jurors he was operating under state law.
Jurors convicted Rosenthal. When they learned the details they were not told during the trial, several jurors said they regretted their verdict.
"This bill is about due process. It's not about pot," said Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, the bill's author.
Farr's bill has the support of 25 colleagues, but only two Republicans, including Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach. Supporters acknowledged they face a tough fight to win approval, or even a hearing, for the legislation.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said he hopes Republicans in the eight states that permit marijuana use by the sick will back the bill. The other states that allow the sick and dying to smoke or grow marijuana with a doctor's recommendation are: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine and Oregon.
California voters approved a medical marijuana law in 1996. Rosenthal's arrest last year was among a string of Drug Enforcement Administration raids on medical marijuana suppliers in California.
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