MARIJUANA USER DEFENDS RAISING 4,116 POT PLANTS; MAN SAYS PROP. 215 COVERS ACTIONS.Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer Proposition 215 allows for medical users of pot to grow enough marijuana marijuana or marihuana, drug obtained from the flowering tops, stems, and leaves of the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa (see hemp) or C. indica; the latter species can withstand colder climates. for their own personal use. Todd McCormick was arrested two weeks ago for growing 4,116 marijuana plants at a Bel-Air mansion. It was the largest indoor pot bust in county history. On Thursday morning McCormick held a news conference to try and explain why he is protected under Proposition 215 - specifically, why he needed so many pot plants for his own personal use. ``I'm not manufacturing. I was growing it for my own self. I was doing research on my own body,'' McCormick said. ``I don't feel I went outside of what 215 allows. There are no limits to what we're allowed to do.'' But local and federal authorities disagree, saying 4,116 plants goes way beyond Proposition 215. He and three others have been charged on felony felony (fĕl`ənē), any grave crime, in contrast to a misdemeanor, that is so declared in statute or was so considered in common law. drug counts. If they are convicted, they face a mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison. McCormick, 27, was held for two weeks at the Metropolitan Detention Center "Metropolitan Dentention Center" refers to a series of federal detention facilities (prisons) located throughout the United States. They are run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. downtown until he was bailed out early Wednesday by actor Woody Harrelson, who posted a $500,000 bond. McCormick held a news conference Thursday morning at the mansion, which he had dubbed dub 1 tr.v. dubbed, dub·bing, dubs 1. To tap lightly on the shoulder by way of conferring knighthood. 2. To honor with a new title or description. 3. ``Liberty Castle.'' Flanked by two lawyers, McCormick recounted the childhood cancers than turned him into a medical user of marijuana by the age of 9. ``This hasn't been a journey I've chosen,'' McCormick said. ``It's one nature chose for me.'' After he started using marijuana, his cancer went into remission Extinguishment or release of a debt. A remission is conventional when it comes about through an express grant to the debtor by a creditor. It is tacit when the creditor makes a voluntary surrender of the original title to the debtor under private signature constituting the , his appetite improved and pain from a spinal condition subsided. As an adult he became an activist for the medical use of marijuana, starting a cannibis buyers club in San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. . ``As someone who has had cancer 10 times, I feel compelled to tell people it helped me,'' he said. ``It's immoral not to help someone if you have something in your garden that can save them.'' McCormick said the plant is vital to people like himself and that he needs to grow a lot because of a high failure rate and also because of his desire to find a strain that works best for medical users like himself. ``You know this is an annual plant. Summer only comes once and I have a long year ahead of me,'' McCormick said. ``What's the concept? I mean, would you have one or two of these plants or would you face death? Or would you have a field of these plants?'' ``I am not some mad scientist in my cellar. I'm a gardener. You know, I planted a seed. I watered some dirt and a plant grew out of it - a very beneficial plant grew out of it,'' he said. McCormick has not yet been indicted INDICTED, practice. When a man is accused by a bill of indictment preferred by a grand jury, he is said to be indicted. by federal prosecutors. The U.S. Attorney's Office has until July 29 to secure an indictment indictment (ĭndīt`mənt), in criminal law, formal written accusation naming specific persons and crimes. Persons suspected of crime may be rendered liable to trial by indictment, by presentment, or by information. from a federal grand jury, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the office. Mrozek said prosecutors do not view this as a test case. ``Proposition 215 affects state marijuana laws. It's our position that Proposition 215 has no bearing on federal drug laws.'' Bruce Margolin, one of McCormick's lawyers, said he is trying to convince the U.S. government to turn the case over to the state court system. In state court, McCormick could more easily argue a Proposition 215 defense. ``If it's outside 215, let a jury decide,'' Margolin said. ``It would be a lack of due process to prosecute To follow through; to commence and continue an action or judicial proceeding to its ultimate conclusion. To proceed against a defendant by charging that person with a crime and bringing him or her to trial. him in federal court.'' CAPTION(S): 2 Photos Photo: (1) Todd McCormick, left, with attorney Joel Isaacson, speaks at a news conference Thursday at the Bel-Air mansion where he grew pot. (2) Marijuana activist Todd McCormick, 27, displays the soles of his shoes, which are made from hemp hemp, common name for a tall annual herb (Cannabis sativa) of the family Cannabinaceae, native to Asia but now widespread because of its formerly large-scale cultivation for the bast fiber (also called hemp) and for the drugs it yields. resin and bear a pot leaf design. David Sprague/Daily News |
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