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San Francisco, CA -- A California appeals court ruled in San Francisco Thursday that the state's medical marijuana law does not protect a Larkspur man who got a doctor's approval for the drug three months after he was arrested. Serge Rigo was convicted in Marin County Superior Court in 1997 and sentenced by Judge Vernon Smith to probation for marijuana cultivation after the prosecution and defense stipulated to the facts of the case. According to the stipulations, Twin City police officers who searched Rigo's home on Nov. 5, 1996, found four marijuana branches hanging in his garage, marijuana cuttings and more than three pounds of marijuana. Rigo said he suffered from gastritis and had decided to self-medicate with marijuana, which he had learned about as a gastritis treatment while living in Switzerland. Three months after the arrest, a psychiatrist who reviewed Rigo's records found that he suffered from chronic gastritis and authorized him to use marijuana for medical reasons. A three-judge Court of Appeal panel unanimously rejected Rigo's bid to have his conviction set aside under the Compassionate Use Act, the medical marijuana initiative passed by state voters as Proposition 215 in 1996. The law forbids prosecution of patients who possess or cultivate marijuana for personal medical purposes upon the recommendation or approval of a doctor. The appeals panel said allowing the application of Prop. 215 under the facts of Rigo's case would "frustrate the intent of the voters." Copyright 1999 Contra Costa Newspapers Inc. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 and The Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works, Article 10, news clippings are made available without profit for research and educational purposes. |
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