LdyLunatic
01-30-2006, 12:31 PM
Colorado -- The acquittal of a car-crash victim who used marijuana to ease his pain has people on both sides wondering if the rules are flawed. A fire at Ryan Margenau's Gunnison townhouse last spring ignited a court case that made him an unwitting pioneer for medical marijuana in Colorado.
Out of town at the time of the fire, Margenau directed officers by phone to his garage, where combustibles were stored.
The officers also found Margenau's medication for chronic back pain stemming from a car accident - four marijuana plants thriving under a grow light in a cupboard, as well as less than an ounce of dried and concentrated marijuana.
Margenau, who used marijuana under a doctor's order but wasn't on the state registry, was arrested upon his return and charged with four felony counts of possession and cultivation. A costly nine-month legal ordeal ensued.
In Colorado's first medical-marijuana trial, Margenau was acquitted last month by a jury in conservative, ranching-based Gunnison County. Medical-marijuana advocates called it a landmark victory. Law enforcement labeled it a good example of why the medical-marijuana initiative approved by voters in 2000 is flawed.
"This should put a pall on prosecutors and law enforcement for pursuing these cases," said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
"One of the lessons that came out of this trial was, in my opinion, how poorly drafted the medical-marijuana initiative was," said the prosecutor in the case, Deputy District Attorney Geoff Nims.
The state doesn't require that a person be on the registry. A verifiable disability or illness and a physician's recommendation are enough to be within the law. The measure also attempts to limit patients to no more than six marijuana plants at varying levels of maturity.
Nims said the issue could be simplified if marijuana were prescribed by doctors in the same manner as other drugs.
Out of town at the time of the fire, Margenau directed officers by phone to his garage, where combustibles were stored.
The officers also found Margenau's medication for chronic back pain stemming from a car accident - four marijuana plants thriving under a grow light in a cupboard, as well as less than an ounce of dried and concentrated marijuana.
Margenau, who used marijuana under a doctor's order but wasn't on the state registry, was arrested upon his return and charged with four felony counts of possession and cultivation. A costly nine-month legal ordeal ensued.
In Colorado's first medical-marijuana trial, Margenau was acquitted last month by a jury in conservative, ranching-based Gunnison County. Medical-marijuana advocates called it a landmark victory. Law enforcement labeled it a good example of why the medical-marijuana initiative approved by voters in 2000 is flawed.
"This should put a pall on prosecutors and law enforcement for pursuing these cases," said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
"One of the lessons that came out of this trial was, in my opinion, how poorly drafted the medical-marijuana initiative was," said the prosecutor in the case, Deputy District Attorney Geoff Nims.
The state doesn't require that a person be on the registry. A verifiable disability or illness and a physician's recommendation are enough to be within the law. The measure also attempts to limit patients to no more than six marijuana plants at varying levels of maturity.
Nims said the issue could be simplified if marijuana were prescribed by doctors in the same manner as other drugs.