Source: http://www.rhdefense.com/2012/12/11/imagine-if-there-were-a-law
Timestamp: 2013-06-20 01:06:02
Document Index: 361659179

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

Imagine If There Were A Law... | RHDefense: The Law Office of Rick Horowitz
You are here: Home / Marijuana Law / Imagine If There Were A Law…	Imagine If There Were A Law… December 11, 2012 by Rick 1 Comment Imagine if there were a law that made it illegal to possess Vicodin.
Being arrested in spite of having a physician recommendation3 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.4
[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.5
To ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes where that medical use is deemed appropriate and has been recommended by a physician who has determined that the person’s health would benefit from the use of marijuana in the treatment of cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief. ((Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11362.5(b)(1)(A), emphasis added.))
“Aha!,” the cops always say. “It says, ‘seriously ill Californians.’”
Yes, it does. And who makes that determination? Not the judge.6 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.”7
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.8
California Health and Safety Code section 11362.715 spells out what is required for a person to obtain one of these identification cards. Other code sections allow the Health Department to deny a card to someone who should not be allowed to have a card. But the bottom line is that if someone has a card, that validates that the person has a physician recommendation, or approval, and is otherwise permitted to do certain things involving marijuana which the general public cannot do. Law enforcement is required to accept it as valid, unless they have probable cause to doubt it is a real card, or probable cause to believe it is being used fraudulently. 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.9
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].10
In enacting this limitation, the Legislature seemed to express its understanding that … the MMPA permits retail dispensaries.11
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.12
Endnotes: Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11350. [↩]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. [↩]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. [↩]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. [↩]Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11362.5(d), emphasis added. [↩]See People v. Jackson, 210 Cal. App. 4th 525, 148 Cal. Rptr. 3d 375 (2012). [↩]People v. Spark, 121 Cal. App. 4th 259, 268, 16 Cal. Rptr. 3d 840 (2004). [↩]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. [↩]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.” [↩]Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11362.775. [↩]People v. Jackson, supra, 210 Cal. App. 4th at 537. [↩]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). [↩]
Filed Under: Marijuana Law Tagged With: CUA, marijuana, marijuana law, marijuana recommendation, medical marijuana, medical marijuana defense, medical marijuana dispensaries, medical marijuana dispensary, medical marijuana law, medical marijuana laws, medical marijuana program act, MMPA About RickRick Horowitz is a criminal defense attorney with an extreme dislike of the criminal "justice" system which routinely ignores the Constitution, the Law, and the lives it ruins.
Comments	Dan says:	December 12, 2012 at 8:30 am