Source: https://rhdefense.com/imagine-if-there-were-a-law-
Timestamp: 2020-02-29 12:55:43
Document Index: 770023752

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 11350', '§ 11362', '§ 11362', '§ 11362', '§ 11362', '§ 11362']

…without a prescription. ((Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11350.))
Actually, it would never happen exactly like that, because most likely your Vicodin would be in a prescription bottle, with the prescription written right on it. In any event, if the only thing the police found was a prescription bottle with some Vicodin in it, they would be extremely unlikely to arrest you for that reason alone. ((Mind you, when the police want to arrest somebody, they’re going to find some way to do it. But they would be extremely unlikely to arrest someone for possessing a bottle of Vicodin which appeared to have the proper information showing that it was a valid prescription. They’ll find some other reason.))
Being arrested in spite of having a physician recommendation ((Physicians don’t prescribe medical marijuana for numerous reasons which I won’t cover in this blog post. However, for purposes of California law, a physician recommendation for, or approval of, medical marijuana, and a physician prescription for Vicodin, have the same legal status.)) is the situation for huge numbers of Californians who, despite the passage of the Compassionate Use Act and the Medical Marijuana Program Act, are discovered by the police to be in possession of marijuana, or who are found to be growing marijuana, or go to a dispensary — or run one — that dispenses marijuana, or are found driving home from a dispensary with marijuana in the car.
There are, of course, some differences between the scenarios where someone possesses Vicodin and those where someone possesses marijuana. I’ll discuss some of them below. But there is one thing which is actually not different at all when it comes to California’s laws: it is illegal to possess Vicodin without a prescription, and it is illegal to possess marijuana without a physician recommendation. Obviously, the reverse of this is also true: when it comes to California’s laws, it is legal to possess Vicodin if you have a prescription, and it is legal to possess marijuana if you have a physician recommendation, or physician approval. ((The law appears to consider the possibility of a patient asking the doctor “what do you think about my trying marijuana,” and the physician saying, “it couldn’t hurt.” An “approval” and a “recommendation” are not necessarily the same; “approval” may be something less formal. People v. Trippett, 56 Cal. App. 4th 1532, 1548, 66 Cal. Rptr. 2d 559 (1997); see also People v. Rigo, 69 Cal. App. 4th 409, 412-413, 81 Cal. Rptr. 2d 624 (1999.))
[Health and Safety Code] Section 11357, relating to the possession of marijuana, and Section 11358, relating to the cultivation of marijuana, shall not apply to a patient, or to a patient’s primary caregiver, who possesses or cultivates marijuana for the personal medical purposes of the patient upon the written or oral recommendation or approval of a physician. ((Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11362.5(d), emphasis added.))
Yes, it does. And who makes that determination? Not the judge. ((See People v. Jackson, 210 Cal. App. 4th 525, 148 Cal. Rptr. 3d 375 (2012).)) Not even juries.
As is evidenced by the entirety of the language of subdivision (b)(1)(A) and the language of subdivision (d) of section 11362.5, the question of whether the medical use of marijuana is appropriate for a patient’s illness is a determination to be made by a physician. A physician’s determination on this medical issue is not to be second-guessed by jurors who might not deem the patient’s condition to be sufficiently “serious.” ((People v. Spark, 121 Cal. App. 4th 259, 268, 16 Cal. Rptr. 3d 840 (2004).))
The department shall establish and maintain a voluntary program for the issuance of identification cards to qualified patients who satisfy the requirements of this article and voluntarily apply to the identification card program. ((Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11362.71. The details of how the identification card program works are spelled out in the rest of that code section.))
A state or local law enforcement agency or officer shall not refuse to accept an identification card issued by the department unless the state or local law enforcement agency or officer has reasonable cause to believe that the information contained in the card is false or fraudulent, or the card is being used fraudulently. ((Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11362.78, emphasis added. I can tell you that officers routinely refuse to accept such cards. I have one such case, involving a cancer patient who lost over 100 lbs — nearly half his body weight — after cancer surgery, until his doctor convinced him to try medical marijuana, which stabilized him. The officers to whom he showed his card literally tossed them aside, saying, “those are useless.”))
Qualified patients, persons with valid identification cards, and the designated primary caregivers of qualified patients and persons with identification cards, who associate within the State of California in order collectively or cooperatively to cultivate marijuana for medical purposes, shall not solely on the basis of that fact be subject to state criminal sanctions under Section 11357 [possession of concentrated cannabis], 11358 [marijuana cultivation], 11359 [possession of marijuana for sale], 11360 [sale/transport of marijuana], 11366 [maintaining a place to sell/use a controlled substance], 11366.5 [managing a location for manufacturing or storing a controlled substance], or 11570 [refusing probation for certain convictions]. ((Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11362.775.))
In enacting this limitation, the Legislature seemed to express its understanding that … the MMPA permits retail dispensaries. ((People v. Jackson, supra, 210 Cal. App. 4th at 537.))
No person or designated primary caregiver in possession of a valid identification card shall be subject to arrest for possession, transportation, delivery, or cultivation of medical marijuana … unless there is reasonable cause to believe that the information contained in the card is false or falsified, the card has been obtained by means of fraud, or the person is otherwise in violation of the provisions of this article. ((Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11362.71, emphasis added. The ellipsis replaces a portion of the code relating to a limitation on the amount of marijuana. That section of the code was determined to be unconstitutional, and the courts have stricken it. People v. Kelly, 47 Cal. 4th 1008, 1049, 103 Cal. Rptr. 3d 733 (2010).))