California Man Faces Prison for Legally Distributing Medical Marijuana

Posted by Enrique on 06.11.2009

Separation of powers...



As you may be aware, the citizens of the state of California voted in favor of legalizing medical marijuana in 1996. Despite the fact several states permit the use of medical marijuana, federal law regards pot as a serious controlled substance, and the Bush administration Department of Justice conducted several raids on medical marijuana dispensaries. President Barack Obama vowed to end this particular abuse of government power, and indeed there have been so such raids since February.

But what about the poor bastards who were pinched during the Bush administration's war on drugs? For our story this week, let's have a look at the atrocious case of Charlie Lynch. Mr. Lynch was the owner of a medical marijuana clinic in Morro Bay, California that was raided by some busybody public servants in 2007, presumably for his own good and to protect the children. Lynch was found guilty in federal court, and awaits sentencing on Thursday. His "crime" carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years. Sounds like a presidential pardon is in order.

Update: Reason reports Lynch has been sentenced to one year and one day in jail. He is free pending appeal.

The story so far…

Lynch's travails have garnered some MSM attention, including this interview on Larry King Live.



At the time, Lynch's sentencing had been pushed back because U.S. District Court Judge George Wu clearly sympathized with the defendant. It was mostly a symbolic gesture, and at this point the top half of the hourglass is just about empty:

Judge Wu continued the sentencing until June 11, 2009 to give defense lawyers more time to provide legal briefings to get around the Mandatory Minimums. Judge Wu indicated that if he could get around the mandatory minimums he would but still cannot find legal standing. He also indicated early after the conviction that the mandatory minimums in this case don't seem fair. He also indicated that if he does not find legal grounds for bypassing the mandatory minimums 'his hands are tied'.

It's no surprise Wu doesn't want to railroad Lynch, because all available evidence indicates Lynch is a decent person who simply wanted to provide relief to the seriously ill. One former patient testified at Lynch's sentencing hearing about how Lynch provided him with marijuana at a discount or for free when he was battling bone cancer. The mayor of Morro Bay as well as the city attorney testified on Lynch's behalf. There is absolutely no sensible reason to believe Lynch poses any danger to society.

The only reason Lynch was convicted in the first place is because federal jurisprudence was severely stacked against him. As it happens, the Supreme Court has ruled medical necessity can't be used as a defense against charges of distributing marijuana, so Lynch's attorneys weren't even allowed to tell the trial jury medical marijuana is perfectly legal in California. To paraphrase Lynch's lawyers, federal prosecutors essentially spent a crapload of taxpayer money proving Charlie Lynch sold marijuana at his legal marijuana dispensary. Presumably, they're very proud of themselves.

And none of this would have happened if not for one busybody public servant in particular.


Sheriff Pat Hedges, officious asshole

Even at my advanced age, I'm still baffled at how certain public servants get the vapors over the harmless behavior of strangers, and have no qualms about using their power to enforce their personal preferences on others. Pat Hedges is a prime example of this kind of contemptible, undeserved sense of righteousness. Apparently, he repeatedly harassed Lynch in hopes of discovering illegal activity, to no avail:

The San Luis Obispo, California Sheriff Pat Hedges, tried and tried to catch Lynch doing something illegal, but he simply wasn't violating the law.

The lawless Sheriff had a personal grudge against marijuana and a determination to rid his county of something that voters approved, plain and simple.

After exhausting his local resources, SLO Sheriff Hedges brought in federal agents from the DEA and they finally got a security guard to sell some pot to them. The security guard wasn't even near the dispensary, miles away in fact, but that didn't stop the DEA from creating a connection to Charles Lynch.

In an interview with John Stossel earlier this year, Hedges said his objection was that Charlie Lynch made a profit, telling Stossel, "You're making an assumption that he's helping people. He was primarily helping himself." I think we can all agree opposing profits is fundamentally un-American. Lynch got caught up in one sheriff's unpatriotic moral crusade, and now he faces prison time for the crime of helping sick people in a manner fully consistent with his state's laws. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished.

Even with a sympathetic judge, the only hope Lynch had to avoid incarceration was for the DOJ to withdraw its sentencing recommendation. Alas, here's what the Obama DOJ told the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted Lynch, after the judge had given them an opportunity to do the right thing:

[A]t the request of the [U.S. Attorney's Office], in response to the Court's inquiries, the Office of the Deputy Attorney General has reviewed the facts of this case and determined that the investigation, prosecution, and conviction of defendant are entirely consistent with the policies of DOJ and with public statements made by the Attorney General with respect to marijuana prosecutions. Accordingly, the USAO has been instructed to proceed with the sentencing recommendations previously filed in this case.

And so the failed policies of the past eight years continue apace. Assuming Lynch is sentenced to prison, only a presidential pardon could set the record straight. Here's to hoping for change we can believe in.

Free Charlie Lynch.