Murphy contended that prescription medications for his headaches were not as effective as marijuana or had more serious side effects. Appellate Judge Rosemarie Annunziata, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, ruled that MacKay was correct in refusing to give the necessity instruction. Annunziata noted that state law at one time permitted physicians to prescribe marijuana for almost any medical condition. The General Assembly changed the law in 1979 to limit its use to treatment of cancer and glaucoma. It depends on who you are, what color you are, where you live, and what the prosecutor decides your fate shall be.
Plea bargains are another method of compelling self-incrimination.
If an accused person will confess to a crime, perhaps even a crime that was not committed, other charges are dropped. Mandatory sentencing laws expedite the plea bargain process. Mandatory sentences give prosecutors, rather than judges, the power to determine what level of punishment shall be administered upon conviction for a criminal act. One act can violate multiple drug laws ranging from misdemeanors to felonies. If a prosecutor threatens a person with long imprisonment unless the person confesses to a lesser crime, such a confession is coerced.