Marijuana and Cannabis News

Administration Throwing Medical Marijuana Patients Into Federal Prison

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ in Medical, News

Friday, January 4, 2013 at 9:20 am

Aaron Sandusky faces 10 years to life in federal prison. He will be sentenced next month.

This month will see a number of patients sentenced, sent to prison despite compliance with state medical marijuana laws

Fallout from the Obama Administration's aggressive federal enforcement in medical marijuana states has reached a fever pitch this month with three people being sentenced, two others due to surrender to federal authorities to serve out sentences of up to five years in prison, and one federal trial in Montana currently scheduled for January 14.

Two of the three people being sentenced in the coming month -- Montana cultivator Chris Williams and Los Angeles-area dispensary operator Aaron Sandusky -- face five and 10 years to life, respectively.

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Kris Hermes, Americans for Safe Access: "The number of patients being locked up by the Obama Administration is unprecedented and deplorable"

"The number of sick patients being locked up by the Obama Administration is unprecedented and deplorable," said Kris Hermes, spokesperson for Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a medical marijuana advocacy organization. "Aggressive enforcement is an unacceptable means of addressing medical marijuana as a public health issue.

"The Obama Administration is lying to the American people when it says it's not targeting individual patients and these cases are clear evidence of that," Hermes said.

Montana patient cultivator Richard Flor died in August while serving out a five-year prison sentence.

Five cultivators claiming to be in compliance with Michigan's medical marijuana law were sentenced in October.

Two of the cultivators -- Jaycob Montague and Jeremy Duval -- are already serving their prison terms of 18 months and 5 years, respectively, and two others -- John Marcinkewciz and Shelley Waldron -- are scheduled to surrender to federal authorities on January 8 and 10, respectively. Waldron will be imprisoned for 18 months and Marcinkewciz for 5 years. The fifth cultivator, Jerry Duval (Jeremy's father), was sentenced to 10 years, but has not yet been given a surrender date.

Cannabis Wire

Chris Williams accepted a plea deal and faces from five years in federal prison. He will be sentenced next month.

More than a dozen people were indicted after federal agents conducted raids on state-compliant medical marijuana businesses throughout Montana in March 2011. Only one, Chris Williams, went to trial and, like all other medical marijuana defendants who are tried in federal court, was denied a defense and swiftly convicted.

While facing more than 80 years of mandatory minimum sentencing, Williams accepted a rare post-conviction plea deal that reduced his charges and possible sentence to five years to life in exchange for his promise not to appeal his conviction. Williams, who is scheduled to be sentenced on February 1, worked at Montana Cannabis with Chris Lindsey, another indicted cultivator.

Lindsey, who testified against Williams at his trial, is expected to be sentenced today. Medical marijuana cultivator Jason Washington has one of the last unresolved federal cases in Montana. Washington is currently scheduled to go to trial on January 14.

Aaron Sandusky operated G3 Holistic in Upland, California, when he was federally indicted in June. Though Sandusky was arrested with several others, he was the only one who took his case to trial. In October, Sandusky was denied a defense in federal court and convicted at trial. He is scheduled to be sentenced on January 7 to a minimum of 10 years to life.

Far surpassing his predecessor George W. Bush, President Obama has conducted more than 200 SWAT-style raids on state-compliant medical marijuana businesses and has indicted more than 80 people since he took office.

"How many medical marijuana patients is President Obama going to imprison before he considers other, more humane options?" asked Hermes. "The President must answer for why he's going against his earlier pledges by spending Justice Department funds in this way, especially at a time of fiscal crisis."

Tags: americans for safe access, federal prison, obama administration

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5 comments

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AgentOfTruth

Greedy. Fools. And this author; apparently upset that they were
arrested and are going to jail...for committing federal offences. Duh.
Compassion...isn't
that this was supposed to be about? Apparently NOT for those folks who
were intent on suddenly GETTING VERY RICH off of the backs of the truly
sick, with these new MMJ laws. I have no compassion for the greedy /
drug traffickers; apparently the author of this article feels
differently...trying to make it sound like they were doing nothing wrong
at all, just growing a few plants to supply to the very ill. WRONG.
They were doing much more than that; in most cases these people were
ILLEGALLY SUPPLYING those who were NOT AUTHORIZED TO POSSESS marijuana.
That is still a crime. This is a very fragile period in the transition
of our society, country, and culture in regard to these new laws; people
think they can operate like it's the Wild West in the Frontier
Days...and do whatever the heck they want. Fools....Sick
patients? Not too sick to be major players in the pot growing business! I
am HAPPY to see the Feds not letting any old 'Joe / Jane MMJ Patient'
think he or she can suddenly become Tony Montanas...at the expense of
imagined cracks in the new laws - allowing these people to not only sell
to legitimate dispensaries but to whomever they darn please...as HAS
BEEN GOING ON with a great percentage of them. I know or have heard of
many, many 'legit' West Coast 'caregivers'/ growers who are supplying
illegitimate out of state traffickers...in turn becoming TRAFFICKERS
THEMSELVES...shipping hundreds of pounds of pot over to the East Coast -
and all points in between - every single week. So anyone who thinks the
Feds should just mind their own business and 'Butt Out' of letting
these people carry on with their ILLEGAL TRAFFICKING has no opinion
worth reading about in my opinion. Just because someone has a legal MMJ
Card and is authorized as a caregiver suddenly places them above
suspicion? "Oh, these guys / gals would NEVER do anything wrong...how
could they possible have done anything wrong, since they have state MMJ
Cards...they could not possibly have sold any weed to someone who didn't
have a legal state MMJ I.D. card. None of them did anything wrong!

Yeah, right.

AgentOfTruth

Hopefully it will send a message to any of those who are thinking of getting rich off the backs of the truly sick.

jeremy.bryan36

Is Obama speaking out the side of his mouth or what? Is Obama in charge of his administration or not? These are some of the many questions i have. How can the world trust americans and their government ,when americans can not trust their own government.

Live free fight hard

elmoby59

1 Like

I'm a seriously ill California native, who could've had a cannabis perscription years ago. But I waited for the Obama Administration's specific statement that the FEDS would NOT use resources to convict patients and collectives in states with existing cannabis laws. Why did they LIE to US? Why do they persecute law abiding citizens, while providing automatic weapons to the Drug Cartels?! Remember "Fast & Furious"? More like SAD & RIDICULOUS!!

There is a White House petition to pardon Aaron Sandusky (Case # CR12-00548 PA). It needs 19,885 more signatures before Jan. 16! I urge everyone to sign this and join the Human Solution. www.the-human-solution. Let's FREE Aaron, Chris Williams, Joe Grumbine and all the other P.O.W.s today. "Nobody Should Go To JAIL For A PLANT!"

elmoby59

2 Like

That should be www.the-human-solution.org Please JOIN US, America!