Medical marijuana: Mom Ann Marie Miller charged with felony for beef now a misdemeanor

[asdjrocky]

In June, medical marijuana caregiver Ann Marie Miller said she was being prosecuted in Adams County because authorities counted dead plants she'd thrown out to say she was over the state-approved limit. The latest twist? She's charged with a felony for what's now a misdemeanor.

According to Miller, possessing marijuana plants beyond the limit of six plants per patient used to be considered a class-4 felony -- no ifs, ands or buts. However, that changed thanks to House Bill 10-1352, signed into law this year, which establishes different penalties depending upon the number of plants in question. Here's the key passage:

EXCEPT FOR A PERSON WHO LAWFULLY CULTIVATES MEDICAL MARIJUANA PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY GRANTED IN SECTION 14 OF ARTICLE XVIII OF THE STATE CONSTITUTION, A PERSON SHALL NOT KNOWINGLY CULTIVATE, GROW, OR PRODUCE A MARIJUANA PLANT OR KNOWINGLY ALLOW A MARIJUANA PLANT TO BE CULTIVATED, GROWN, OR PRODUCED ON LAND THAT THE PERSON OWNS, OCCUPIES, OR CONTROLS. A PERSON WHO VIOLATES THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SUBSECTION (7.5) COMMITS:

(a) A CLASS 1 MISDEMEANOR, IF THE OFFENSE INVOLVES SIX OR FEWER PLANTS; OR

(b) A CLASS 5 FELONY IF THE OFFENSE INVOLVES MORE THAN SIX BUT FEWER THAN THIRTY PLANTS; OR

(c) A CLASS 4 FELONY IF THE OFFENSE INVOLVES THIRTY OR MORE PLANTS.

In Miller's case, she's accused of having 21 plants for herself and one other patient: Randy Garcia, who she describes as "a Naval veteran." Under these circumstances, she would be legally entitled to have twelve plants. But she says six of the 21 plants were dead and had been tossed into a trash can. If those aren't counted, she'd be only three over the limit, which would make her offense a class-1 misdemeanor under HB 10-1352.

the rest-
http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2010/11/medical_marijuana_ann_marie_miller_charged_with_felony_for_offense_now_a_misdemeanor.php

People talk about freedom. Really, how free are we in America?

[Angry Dragon]

1. KNOCK!! .... KNOCK!! ............Who's there

Open up, it is your friendly police department with the swat team
to make sure you are safe and free............

[RKP5637]

2. Freedom in American is an illusion and it's fading. n/t

[Newest Reality]

3. We are as free as we are

capable of distinguishing between an entrenched belief and the experience of actuality. Like driving a car, much of what people can tacitly believe is an unconscious process that is triggered by certain situations, ideas or other stimuli.

What kind of rhetoric have we been exposed to that leads us to believe that we are so free? What does freedom, in that sense mean? Are the freedoms Universal, or do they only apply to certain citizens at certain times? Home of the brave and land of the free? Who asks the necessary questions?

No, it is much easier and so simple, (convenient) to make the assumption that if someone in authority says that we are free, then we are ... on to other topics in a complex world. There is nothing better than to have a society structured on control, intimidation and exploitation where its citizens walk around believing with full conviction that they are free and, the freest on the planet, to boot. Freedom is a nominalization, of course -- a dynamic process frozen into an abstraction that is so easy to make assumptions about while it remains free of actual content or specific meaning.

That is especially so in the case of the War on Some Drugs where it can be argued that the negative results of criminalization, (on individuals and society) far exceed the over-exaggerated dangers once referred to as "evils".

[Uncle Joe]

4. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, asdjrocky.