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Monday, August 30. 2010

DC's medical marijuana law will be ... Posted by Jon Katz in Drugs at 00:00

DC's medical marijuana law will be worth limited fanfare unless people urge D.C. to expand the list of permitted medical marijuana uses.

By Jon Katz, a Virginia and Maryland criminal defense lawyer and DWI defense lawyer practicing in Fairfax County, Montgomery County, and beyond, pursuing the best possible results for clients. 301-495-7755. http://katzjustice.com.

Image from public domain.

Through my excitement over the District of Columbia’s becoming an additional medical marijuana jurisdiction, I did not focus on the problem that other than the following “qualifying medical conditions” allowing use of medical marijuana, any other qualifying condition must be approved by a rulemaking of the District of Columbia government for a condition that is:

(i) Chronic or long-lasting;

(ii) Debilitating or interferes with the basic functions of life; and

(iii) A serious medical condition for which the use of medical marijuana is beneficial:

(I) That cannot be effectively treated by any ordinary medical or surgical measure; or

(II) For which there is scientific evidence that the use of medical marijuana is likely to be significantly less addictive than the ordinary medical treatment for that condition.

The already qualifying medical conditions allowing use of medical marijuana are:

(A) Human immunodeficiency virus;

(B) Acquired immune deficiency syndrome;

(C) Glaucoma;

(D) Conditions characterized by severe and persistent muscle spasms, such as multiple sclerosis;

(E) Cancer.

Consequently, particularly if you are a District of Columbia resident, please contact the D.C. government during the 45-day notice-and-comment period that started August 6, 2010, to urge an expansion of the statutorily-listed conditions that permit medical marijuana use, because the initial draft medical marijuana regulations initial draft medical marijuana regulations do not add any conditions to the above list of five that are permitted for medical marijuana use.

For your convenience, here is a petition from Safe Access D.C. that you may sign and submit online to comment.

I also suggest submitting your own personalized comments to Mayor Fenty or other council leaders on the draft rulemaking. The proposed rulemaking directs that comments may be made as follows:

Comments on this rule should be submitted, in writing, to Arthur J. Parker, Chief, Rulemaking Section, Office of the Attorney General, Legal Counsel Division, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 409, Washington, DC, 20004, within forty-five (45) days of the date of publication of this notice in the D.C. Register.

Tuesday, August 24. 2010

Judge orders convicted marijuana ... Posted by Jon Katz in Drugs at 00:00

Comment (1)

Judge orders convicted marijuana defendant to write report on “the nonsensical character” of medical marijuana in California.

Image from public domain.

Marijuana is beneficial medicine from nature rather than from synthetics. Sadly, Nevada Judge Dave Gamble ordered a California man convicted of selling marijuana to write a report about "the nonsensical character" of California's medical mrijuana laws, with the judge's calling marijuana a gateway drug, which it is not.

Thanks to the ABA Journal for posting on this story.

Wednesday, July 28. 2010

D.C. medical marijuana clears final ... Posted by Jon Katz in Drugs at 00:00

Comments (2)

D.C. medical marijuana clears final Congressional colonial hurdle / Medical marijuana use authorized at VA hospitals in medical marijuana states.

Image from public domain.

By Jon Katz, a criminal defense and DWI defense lawyer practicing in Fairfax County, Virginia, Montgomery County, Maryland and beyond. 301-495-7755. http://katzjustice.com.

When my clients lament being arrested for possessing their medicinal marijuana, I sometimes have pointed out the states where it is legal to smoke marijuana for medicinal use.

Today is cause for celebration that the District of Columbia’s medical marijuana law yesterday cleared the final Congressional colonial hurdle.

Legally dispensed medical marijuana should become available in early 2011 in the District of Columbia. I imagine that medical marijuana users from neighboring Maryland and Virginia will also wish to take advantage of the D.C. law, even if that means moving to D.C., and boosting the city’s real estate values.

The week gets better with the news that state-authorized medical marijuana will be permitted to be smoked by patients staying at Veterans hospitals.

Friday, June 11. 2010

What will happen with drug violence ... Posted by Jon Katz in Drugs at 00:00

Comment (1)

What will happen with drug violence when drug prohibition ends?

Chihuahua Channel 44's coverage of violence in Juarez.

Sixteen years ago, when in the El Paso area, I visited with a friend who lives in Juaraz, Mexico. I found a garage on the El Paso side to park my car, because my rental car agreement did not cover driving in Mexico.

I walked across the border over the short footbridge, and had an enjoyable and violence-free several hours with my friend, including having vegetarian food at a top-shelf restaurant, briefly accompanying him the next morning in his daily work life, and, on my own, strolling the streets and shops close to the border crossing before my return.

My return to the United States the next morning over the footbridge was quick and uneventful past the border checkpoint, other than a surprised question from the Customs agent about how my bottle of water could have been the only thing I had purchased during my less than a day in Mexico.

Times have changed dramatically in Juaraz since then. Juarez is among the several areas of Mexico –- but certainly not the only one –- that has been transformed into a constant gun battle ground, catching innocent victims in the shooting violence and kidnappings.

I had a chance recently to catch up with my friend from Juarez, who was visiting the Washington, D.C., area. I will keep his identity confidential due to his remaining in Juarez with the city’s ongoing violence, even though he did not tell m anything that is not alreay news on the street.

My friend, a member of the business establishment, has the financial and personal wherewithal to relocate to a less violent part of Mexico. He has made the decision to stay in Juarez, where his family, business, and many friends remain. This has been his home for years, and he wishes to continue with as normal a life as he can there.

His daily life does not seem to have changed too much, other than to make some concerted efforts to avoid getting caught in violence, including driving a longer but safer route to get to his office from home. His crossing time into the United States has not been slowed down much, but this is at the expense of obtaining a passage card to enter the U.S. that requires an extensive background check.

I have only been to two places in Mexico, which are Juarez in 1994 and Tijuana in 1977. Both have gotten overridden by drug-related violence, with Tijuana worse off in this transition. My friend emphasized that there are other parts of Mexico that are further from the U.S. border that also are caught up heavily in drug violence, but that get less attention in the United States by being farther from the United States.

How can all this drug-running violence be reversed –- not just in Mexico but worldwide? The violence would not exist without the huge demand for illegal drugs. Fewer people would be demanding drugs –- both of the legal and illegal varieties -– if they did not feel in so much psychological, spiritual, and physical pain, distress, and disconnect.

Decades of experience has shown that drug prohibition and harsh drug sentences does not stop a huge demand for illegal drugs. What would happen if all nations legalized drugs? That would open up drugs to being produced legally domestically and imported legally. That would reverse the drug violence, so much so that illegal drug dealers and illegal drug manufacturers probably want their product kept illegal in order to avoid more widespread competition and reduced prices that result from making a product legal with more competition.

Many decry the concept of legalizing drugs, for fear of the social ills of purchasing harmful drugs over the counter. Another available approach is to make most currently-illegal drugs available in a more regulated way. I am interested in learning more specific ideas for that approach; we already have seen the medical marijuana model in California and elsewhere that requires a doctor’s written recommendation before it may be obtained. On the more chilling side, still seared into my memory is the image of my taking the wrong pedestrian turn to the heart of Vancouver’s Chinatown in 2001, and cringing at a crazed-looking man stabbing heroin into his palm at an open-air shooting gallery, which I figure was either regulated for distributing needles, or somehow else tolerated by police for shooting up.

Drug legalization would cause a slew of people in the criminal justice system –- including judges, prosecutors, criminal defense lawyers, law enforcement, probation and parole officers, and jailers -- to go looking for work elsewhere, or to look for other types of customers. That is fine by me, and I certainly hope that nobody earning a living in the criminal justice system is resisting drug reform due to their own salary concerns. I’ll drink to that.

By Jon Katz, a criminal defense and DWI defense lawyer practicing in Fairfax County, Virginia, Montgomery County, Maryland and beyond. 301-495-7755. http://katzjustice.com.

Wednesday, June 2. 2010

Does marijuana send signals to a ... Posted by Jon Katz in Drugs at 00:00

Comment (1)

Does marijuana send signals to a nerve cell and back out again?

Image from public domain.

Thanks to a listserv member for providing this June 1, 2010, Washington Post link about an assertion that marijuana send signals to a nerve cell and back out again:

Five years ago, while still a regular physician, [William] Courtney[, M.D.,] was as spooked as most doctors about pot. Then he came across an article in the December 2004 issue of Scientific American. It changed his life. The article highlighted a molecule in cannabis that could do something he had never seen before: send signals not only into a nerve cell, but also back out again.

The finding reversed 20 years of his understanding of how neurotransmitters work. One-way traffic was the basis for inflammation: Immune cells receive endless messages to get cracking, none to calm down. Continuous attacking can inflame otherwise healthy tissue. Two-way communication makes possible a feedback loop, encouraging a modulation, the promise of which swept over the Michigan-born microbiology major with the force of religion. "My God," he said. "It's the basis of health."

Courtney keeps a framed graphic from the article on his desk. It stands beside copies of "Non-psychotropic plant cannabinoids: new therapeutic opportunities from an ancient herb," from Trends in Pharmacological Sciences...

Dr. Courtney has more medical marijuana links here.

Jon Katz - Criminal defense and DWI defense lawyer practicing in Fairfax County, Virginia, Montgomery County, Maryland and beyond. 301-495-7755. http://katzjustice.com.

Friday, May 14. 2010

Here is the final text of D.C.'s ... Posted by Jon Katz in Drugs at 00:10

Here is the final text of D.C.'s medical marijuana law.

Image from public domain.

Last week, I blogged about the D.C. City Council's final passage of a medical marijuana law, for Mayor Fenty's expected signature.

Not having found the final law's text on Google, I obtained it from the D.C. City Council website, which is not the easiest to navigate. The text is here.

Thursday, May 6. 2010

Marylanders: Please tell Del. ... Posted by Jon Katz in Drugs at 00:10

Marylanders: Please tell Del. Vallario to remove hurdles to a medical marijuana vote.

Image from public domain.

Generally jaded about politicians, as a person I find longtime Maryland House Judiciary Chair Joseph F. Vallario, Jr., a generally likeable person without any apparent ego. He is a quintessential gentleman and politician from southern Maryland who seems truly to enjoy rubbing elbows with folks in the courthouses where he practices, and everywhere else.

Yesterday, I caught up with Joe at the Charles County courthouse, puzzled over why he had a written-on sticky note affixed to his necktie clip. I asked him to follow suit with the previous days’ medical marijuana legislative passage in Washington, D.C.

Joe replied that he was not about to do that except for when marijuana that gets prescribed by a doctor. I told him that no doctor is going to prescribe marijuana –- versus recommending it -– until the federal government legalizes marijuana for prescription purposes. He still insisted on the feds taking the lead first, and referenced how various opiate-based drugs have been approved for prescription, apparently suggesting that the less harmful marijuana should therefore be able to get approved.

I told Joe that it takes at least $10 million to get FDA approval of a prescription drug these days (I was wrong –- Harvard emeritus medical professor Lester Grinspoon estimates around $200 million in these days of double-blind studies (see here and here) and that nobody is going to want to makes such an investment, marijuana being unpatentable medicine.

Joe asked me if I was satisfied with Maryland’s 2002 compromise law that sets a $100 penalty limit for marijuana possession convictions where medical necessity is proven. I told him that I have won such a defense , but at the substantial price of my client’s angst, and thousands of dollars paid to me, our marijuana cultivation expert, and our medical marijuana expert. And my client still had to be found guilty before achieving a medical marijuana sentence.

After Maryland’s compromise 2002 medical marijuana law took effect, I bumped into Joe, and asked why Maryland did not just legalize medical marijuana outright. He told me of a concern about conflicting state law with federal marijuana law. Subsequently, and soon after Barack Obama took over the White House, Attorney General Holder declared federal prosecutorial hands off state-sanctioned medical marijuana. Consequently, at worst, Delegate Vallario could support legalizing medical marijuana, and leave to another day what to do if a different presidential administration steps up prosecution of medical marijuana. However, Vallario continues talking about the federal ban on marijuana.

Joe Vallario apparently is an apparently hardworking legislator who is skilled in the ways of parliamentary procedure and in killing bills simply by preventing them from seeing the light of day for a vote. The Marijuana Policy Project asserted earlier this year that previous “efforts to pass medical marijuana legislation in Maryland all failed to make it out of the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Del. Joseph F. Vallario , Jr.” . Salon.com blogger Barry Considine is more blunt than that, asserting that “Chairman Vallario last time refused to call for a vote in the Judiciary Committee effectively killing the [medical marijuana] bill in 2007.”

Wanting legal medical marijuana in Maryland, I asked Joe when he will retire from the Maryland House. However, who knows if such a void will be filled by someone who will be any better than he/ Although I do not closely follow his voting record, at least he stood up to many colleagues for less draconian mandated ignition interlock driving requirements for those convicted of alcohol-impaired driving. The Washington Post reported that Vallario allowed the bill to die after a compromise was not achieved.

Now it is time for Marylanders to urge House Judiciary Chair Joe Vallario to enable an early committee and floor vote on medical marijuana at the 2011 legislative session. He is at

House Office Building, Room 101

6 Bladen St., Annapolis, MD 21401

(410) 841-3488, (301) 858-3488

1-800-492-7122, ext. 3488 (toll free)

e-mail: joseph.vallario@house.state.md.us

fax: (410) 841-3495, (301) 858-3495

His law firm is at:

5210 Auth Road, Suitland, MD 20746

(301) 423-8100

Wednesday, May 5. 2010

Medical marijuana spreads like a ... Posted by Jon Katz in Drugs at 00:00

Medical marijuana spreads like a good weed to D.C.

Image from public domain.

During my fourteen years as a Washington, D.C., resident, through 2002, I felt dissonance about being in a colony that had taxation without representation in Congress, and where I believe that D.C. would have been much closer to statehood today were it not for Congressmembers’ past views (if not present views, as well) on race, where African Americans have long comprised the majority of D.C.’s residents. Now an eight-year Maryland resident, I cheer Washington’s distinction –- no matter how limited –- in soon becoming the first medical marijuana state south of Rhode Island on the Eastern Seaboard, even in the face of needing Congressional approval for D.C. legislation, which is a hurdle not faced by Maryland, which still failed to pass this year’s proposed medical marijuana bill.

On May 4, the D.C. Council gave final approval to the medical marijuana bill, which Mayor Fenty apparently will sign. With Congressional barricades to medical marijuana having been recently removed, I am optimistic that Congress will not exercise its colonial powers to reject this legislation during the thirty-day period that it has to strike any signed D.C. legislation.

I have not yet found D.C.’s final medical marijuana legislation; the interim measure that passed on April 20 is here. The Washington Post reports that the medical marijuana bill “originally restricted chronically ill patients with a doctors' recommendation to no more than two ounces of marijuana in a 30-day period. But the council approved an amendment giving the Fenty administration the authority to set the possession limit at four ounces a month if it decides the need exists.”

Although riddled with cookies, this Dcist article addresses such issues as rejected legislative amendment proposals to allow doctors in Maryland and Virginia to recommend medical marijuana to those obtaining it in D.C. NORML blogs on the final D.C. medical marijuana bill here.

Here is a Washington Post article on some local physicians’ reactions to medical marijuana , from concerns about dosages and uniform quality and strength to relief over patients’ use of medical marijuana without fear of arrest for taking beneficial medicine.

A Washington Post poll shows 80% support by Washingtonians for medical marijuana.

Those desiring medical marijuana should be expected to move to Washington, D.C. from nearby communities in Maryland and Virginia. Perhaps the influx into D.C. of medical marijuana patients and their household members will be so big as to stimulate D.C.’s sagging real estate market that it shares with the surrounding region.

Once medical marijuana legislation becomes effective in D.C., the next push needs to be for D.C. statehood.

Monday, April 26. 2010

Here is the text of the D.C. City ... Posted by Jon Katz in Drugs at 00:00

Here is the text of the D.C. City Council's latest medical marijuana measure.

Image from public domain.

Following up on my April 23 blog entry, after searching high and low for the text of the April 20, 2010, D.C. City Council initial medical marijuana legislation, I found it in only one place, at Safe Access DC's blog, and not even on the D.C. City Council's website.

Because websites can have blackout periods with sitehost problems, I reprint below the legislation posted by Safe Access DC:

AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE
AMENDING COMMITTEE ON HEALTH - COMMITTEE PRINT
April 20, 2010

Continue reading "Here is the text of the D.C. City Council's latest medical marijuana measure."

Friday, April 23. 2010

On 4/20, did the D.C. Council ... Posted by Jon Katz in Drugs at 00:00

On 4/20, did the D.C. Council approve an excessively restrictive medical marijuana measure?

Image from public domain.

On the one hand, the April 20 date of this week's D.C. City Council approval of a medical marijuana measure could have been auspicious.

On the other hand -- having just completed two back-to-back jury trials -- I will get my hands on the legislation to see how much I agree with Oakland's Harborside Health Center Director Steve DeAngelo, who responded: "I think the bill is deeply flawed, and I don't think it is going to achieve the purpose, which is protect patients... The regulations may be setting up a system that drives patients back onto the streets."

Tuesday, April 13. 2010

New medical marijuana law eludes ... Posted by Jon Katz in Drugs at 00:00

Comments (2)

New medical marijuana law eludes Maryland this legislative session.

Image from public domain.

Days could be taken speculating over why the Maryland Senate took until near the end of its legislative session which ended yesterday -- and why the House of Delegates did not vote on the bill -- to pass a medical marijuana bill (see the text here ) that legalizes medical marijuana use, as opposed to the current state law that just limits medical marijuana to a $100 fine if the defendant proves medical necessity.

This bill will certainly return to the Maryland legislature next year, and hopefully it will pass with as much teeth as possible.

Tuesday, February 23. 2010

Persuading judges, jurors, and ... Posted by Jon Katz in Drugs at 00:00

Persuading judges, jurors, and prosecutors about marijuana.

NOTE: Following is an article that I recently submitted for publication in the newsletter of the Maryland Criminal Defense Attorneys Association:

Here are some thoughts for persuading judges, jurors, and prosecutors for negotiations, trials, sentencings, and probation/parole violation hearings involving marijuana:

- In all likelihood, a small minority of convicted Maryland marijuana defendants will be sentenced under the medical marijuana sentencing scheme. Therefore, medical marijuana arguments alone are not enough in seeking favorable outcomes in medical marijuana cases.

- I have previously written in MCDAA newsletters, about medical marijuana defenses (see http://katzjustice.com/underdog/permalink/Marks-Katz-obtains-Maryland-medical-marijuana-sentence-on-multiple-plants..html and http://katzjustice.com/underdog/permalink/MarijuanaGrowDefense..html) and probable cause arguments involving marijuana smell (see http://katzjustice.com/underdog/permalink/MarijuanaSmell..html).

- In the criminal justice system, marijuana gets lumped in all too often with more harmful drugs. It can be important to distinguish marijuana as meriting less concern than more harmful controlled substances, distilled as the “it’s just marijuana” argument.

Federal and state legislatures nationwide have acknowledged that marijuana is less harmful than plenty of other controlled substances by creating less harsh sentencing schemes for marijuana than with such controlled substances as cocaine and heroin. In Maryland, marijuana gets treated less harshly than cocaine and heroin for maximum possible penalties for misdemeanor and felony possession, by omitting marijuana felony possession from the mandatory minimum second felony offender drug scheme, through lighter treatment in the voluntary sentencing guidelines, and through mere fines for proving medical necessity in marijuana possession cases.

- All judges, prosecutors, jurors, and police are going to have preconceived notions about marijuana, through such factors as past personal marijuana use and personal observation (if any), observing its effects on friends and family members, and considering propaganda from all sides of the issue.

- Arguments from the marijuana legalization/decriminalization side include:

-- Marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol.

-- The entire marijuana plant offers strong medicinal, industrial, environmental, and personal benefits. The industrial and environmental benefits are perhaps most visibly promoted, unfortunately to the point of overhyping, by marijuana champion Jack Herer in The Emperor Wears No Clothes, which is available in full-text at http://www.jackherer.com/chapters.html.

As to marijuana’s personal and medicinal benefits, Harvard medical school emeritus professor Lester Grinspoon is a high-profile proponent with strong academic bona fides to back him up. He started studying marijuana in the 1960’s expecting to prove marijuana's harm but then found the opposite to dominate. Eventually, he decided it a good idea to try for himself the marijuana he had been studying. He became a big fan of personal marijuana use ever since. Grinspoon says of marijuana: “Over the years, I have come to understand that marijuana is not just for fun, it’s not just for medicine, but there are other ways in which this high is useful … I began to realize that this drug, this plant, is truly remarkable, that it can be used to enhance various aspects of life." “Pot Shots: The Faces of Marijuana in Boston,” by Chris Wright, Boston Phoenix, http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/multipage/documents/01815009.htm.

Grinspoon said: “I came to realize that I was the one who was misinformed [about marijuana] — that despite my training in science and medicine, I had been brainwashed like just about every other citizen of this country." “Pot Shots,” supra.

Grinspoon also said of marijuana: "Marijuana expands the breadth of variables one can bring to bear on a situation. It allows the intellect to visit parts of one’s consciousness that are usually off-limits … Cannabis has helped me make some important life decisions. This is something I’m glad I didn’t have to go through life without." “Pot Shots,” supra.

- Arguments from the marijuana opposition include assertions that today’s marijuana is more potent than the marijuana smoked even a generation ago; marijuana is a gateway drug to more harmful controlled substances; marijuana is not FDA-approved and not enough is known yet about its safety; and alcohol is dangerous enough, and we do not need more dangerous drugs legalized.

Here are rebuttals for each of the foregoing four claims:

-- The more potent that marijuana becomes, the less marijuana people need to smoke to obtain the same high or other benefits. Unlike wine, beer and other alcohol, marijuana use is not about finishing a serving of marijuana in one sitting. A marijuana cigarette may be extinguished for later use, and marijuana used in pipes gets burnt in small amounts and the rest can be saved for later. Marijuana used in baked goods also can be consumed in more than one sitting, as well.

-- One scholarly study that helps debunk the argument that marijuana is a gateway to more dangerous drugs is “Predictors of Marijuana Use in Adolescents Before and After Licit Drug Use: Examination of the Gateway Hypothesis,” by Ralph E. Tarter, Ph.D., et al., American Journal of Psychiatry (Dec. 2006), http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/163/12/2134.

-- Harvard medical school emeritus professor Lester Grinspoon estimates that at least $200 million is needed for studies to get a drug approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration. Absent huge financial donations from the likes of Bill Gates and George Soros to meet the FDA’s drug-study protocols, nobody is going to pay for such a study. Marijuana is unpatented, so pharmaceutical companies will have no interest in paying to get FDA approval for marijuana. With the FDA approval process too expensive for marijuana, Dr. Grinspoon points to persuasive anecdotal evidence of marijuana's strong benefits and low risks as medicine. “Commentary: On the Pharmaceuticalization of Marijuana,” by Lester Grinspoon, MD,

International Journal of Drug Policy, 12 (5-6) (2001), pp. 377-383, http://rxmarijuana.com/Pharmaceuticalization.htm.

-- As to the claim that we do not need to legalize additional dangerous substances, in what ways is marijuana more harmful than alcohol, nicotine and caffeine, with all being profoundly addictive, and marijuana nowhere near as addictive? How many people have died from a marijuana overdose, if such overdoses even exist? What percentage of people become violent after drinking many beers versus the percentage of people who become all the more mellow after smoking (or eating, in baked goods) even a small amount of marijuana?

- Recently, I spoke with a forensic chemist who typically testifies for the criminal defense side in drunk driving cases, about marijuana laws and the extent of marijuana’s benefits and harms. He believes very strongly in keeping marijuana illegal -- even for medicinal use -- and that its benefits are far outweighed by its risks and harms.

This forensic chemist talked of the presence of over 150 chemicals in marijuana, and of marijuana's harms being like shooting a shotgun, having a minority of the pellets being beneficial -- not being sure which of those pellets are beneficial -- and having a substantial number of the pellets dangerous. He analogized to asbestos, which was used for many years before anyone found any harm from asbestos.

- Regardless of how accurate the above-mentioned forensic chemist is or is not about marijuana’s dangers, the late pharmaceutical and marijuana expert John P. Morgan, M.D., made a strong argument that marijuana is comparatively safe, in reference to alcohol and other recreational drugs, and its potential benefits are enormous. As to drivers under the influence of marijuana, he believed they often slow down. Even if marijuana turned out to be very harmful, which Dr. Morgan discounted, he would have found that to be all the more a good reason to have marijuana -- along with all other drugs -- legalized, regulated, and better controlled through the marketplace, and removed from the dangers of the current illicit drug market. “Why Marijuana Should Be Legalized: An Expert's Perspective,” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KLy150NR_U&eurl=http://www.celebstoner.com/news/marijuana-news/marijuana-advocate-author-dr.-john-p.-morgan-1940-2008.html.

- Local martial arts practitioner and massage therapist Matt Stampe takes the following balancing approach with marijuana use:

-- "[M]y Chinese doctor used to grow her own herbs and they really were helpful. I don’t see why marijuana which is 'yin' energy could not be included with other powerful herbs.

-- "As a licensed massage therapist- I have mixed views on the legalization of marijuana. First it is still a toxin to the lungs, second it affect QI 'chi' flow in the body, and can damage the 'Shen' or Mind and 'Jing' or essence of reproduction. Marijuana does pose a threat to our society in that is can make people dumb, create accidents, and make bad decisions. However I do stand for its healing benefits and some of the results for AIDS, Cancer, and other uses that help the individual and economy."

- When defending students at parallel student disciplinary proceedings for marijuana possession, it may be beneficial to remind the student disciplinary panels that in 2006, nearly two-thirds of voting University of Maryland students voted to soften penalties for marijuana in student disciplinary proceedings. http://cannabisnews.com/news/21/thread21731.shtml. The school administration left the vote as advisory only.

- In such jurisdictions as Prince George’s County, where prosecutors routinely reduce marijuana felony possession charges to simple possession for quantities under two ounces, watch out for judges who will be inclined to sentence more harshly when considering the marijuana quantity involved and when considering the later-amended felony possession charge on the charging document.

Both for making a preemptive strike under such sentencing situations, and for arguing to prosecutors and factfinders that large quantities are for personal use only, consider that marijuana is very economical to buy in bulk for personal use, making it significantly less expensive than purchasing in small quantities. Pricing information on marijuana is routinely carried in High Times magazine. Pricing information together with testimony from a suitable medical doctor (about marijuana dosages) can help counter arguments that marijuana amounts over an ounce are intended for distribution.

- Some dealers of marijuana and other drugs throw in small baggies for resale purposes. Therefore, the mere possession of small empty baggies along with one large bag of marijuana is not sufficient by itself to prove intent to distribute.

CONCLUSION

Although many of the foregoing views are applicable to arguments for reforming the drug laws, many of these arguments can also be effective in negotiating marijuana cases (and in some instances other drug cases), arguing the cases at trial, and arguing at drug sentencing.

A criminal defense lawyer’s arguments that marijuana should be treated as a less harmful drug than cocaine and heroin should not diminish the same lawyer’s effectiveness in arguing for other clients that stronger drugs also should be dealt with more heavily with probation supervision and treatment than with lengthy incarceration.

Sunday, January 31. 2010

D.C. City Council to hold hearing on ... Posted by Jon Katz in Drugs at 00:00

D.C. City Council to hold hearing on medical marijuana.

Image from public domain.

The District of Columbia City Council will hold hearings on February 11, 2010, on the road to effectuating the medical marijuana initiative that D.C. voters approved in 1998, but which Congress blocked until recently. Further details are here http://www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us/media/2010%20Meeting%20Notices/HandPSJpublichearingFebruary1120101000.PDF. Thanks to the person who notified me of this important date.

Friday, January 15. 2010

A view into now: Where medical ... Posted by Jon Katz in Drugs at 00:00

A view into now: Where medical marijuana dispensaries are lawful.

Recently, I heard Steve DeAngelo speak live about medical marijuana. During his talk, he showed his above-displayed video about the Harborside Health Center in San Jose, California, where he is the executive director. The center provides medical marijuana and holistic services.

I know that the above-displayed video puts HHC's own spin on their facility, but it is great propaganda nonetheless. Jon Katz

Monday, December 14. 2009

Will D.C. real estate values ... Posted by Jon Katz in Drugs at 00:00

Will D.C. real estate values mushroom with the coming of legal medical marijuana?

Image from public domain.

The District of Columbia and the surrounding Beltway/Route 495 are a true center of the dreaded government-military-industrial complex. On an individual level, many participants in the G-M-I complex are wonderful people, with many doing good things for society. As a whole, though, the G-M-I complex is overgrown, is overly oppressive, and is overly beholden to power structures rather than to individuals.

What would happen if the G-M-I complex participants -- and everyone else -- had access to lawfully-recommended, lawfully-grown, and lawfully-obtained medical marijuana? That day seems soon upon us, in the District of Columbia.

Marijuana is great medicine. After eleven years of federal Congressional blockage of D.C.’s referendum/ Initiative 59 to legalize medical marijuana (see the law here) -- with D.C. residents being victims of taxation without fully-voting Congressional representation -- the U.S. House of Representatives last week approved an appropriations bill that includes a provision clearing the way for D.C.'s medical marijuana law to take effect. The Washington Post’s editorial folks expect the Senate to approve the bill, as well.

D.C.'s medical marijuana law is expansive, including the right to grow, buy and deliver marijuana exclusively for those with physicians' recommendations of marijuana's medical necessity for them. Now my clients who use marijuana medicinally have a local venue for using it legally, rather than having to pull up roots and transplant themselves to the far-flung places where medical marijuana is currently allowed.

This news is big. The wonderful possibilities are huge.

ADDENDUM: Thanks to an emailer who alerted me to the updated status of the D.C. medical marijuana law.

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Jonathan L. Katz

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UNDERDOG BLOG IS PRESENTED BY CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER JON KATZ.

JON KATZ IS AV-RATED /WASHINGTONIAN TOP 800 LAWYERS-LISTED/SUPER LAWYERS-LISTED/AVVO.COM 10.0-RATED.

SE HABLA ESPAÑOL / ON PARLE FRANÇAIS.

Since 1991, criminal defense lawyer Jon Katz has fought for victory for criminal defendants and drunk driving/ driving while intoxicated/ DUI/ DWI defendants in felony prosecutions, misdemeanors, and drunk driving cases. He defends clients in Maryland and Virginia state and federal courts, including in Montgomery County (Rockville and Silver Spring), Fairfax County, Prince George's County, and the rest of the D.C. Beltway and beyond.

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Nothing on this blog and elsewhere in the katzjustice.com website is legal advice. Any discussion of our cases, victories, and client feedback is no indication of possible results for current and future clients. Jon Katz is admitted to practice before the courts listed here. A competent lawyer should be consulted privately for any legal advice. Here is further disclaimer information and the terms of use for this website.

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