Marijuana Policy Project

FREDERICK, Md.— A Frederick County judge has granted probation before judgment for a Frederick woman caught with marijuana because she was able to prove she needed it for medicinal reasons. It was the first Frederick County case since the state adopted a new law ending jail time for people who use the drug out of medical necessity. A lawyer for Jodi Delli, 32, said his client had a letter from her doctor explaining that smoking the drug had done more to ease her pain than prescription pills. She was arrested in November after her neighbors told police they smelled the drug. Under the new law, Delli faced at most $100 fine. Without a showing of medical necessity, the penalty could include a year in jail and a fine as high as $1,000.