LEGAL UPDATE: Guilty Verdict in First Federal Medical Cannabis Trial in 3 Years
The day before Thanksgiving, a jury took "The conviction of another medical learned he was helping patients under
less than a day to find a medical cannabis cannabis patient is a senseless tragedy for state law.
patient guilty of violating federal cannabis all involved," said Steph Sherer, executive
laws. Dustin Costa, 60, a prominent med- director of the medical cannabis advocacy The original state cannabis cultivation
ical cannabis activist and former Marine, group Americans for Safe Access. charges against Mr. Costa, president of the
was found guilty of manufacture of mari- "Imprisoning patients is an injustice, and Merced Patients Group, stemmed from a
juana, possession of marijuana for distribu- shameful when done against the will of the March 2004 arrest by Merced County
tion, and possession of a firearm. vast majority of U.S. citizens that support Sheriffs following a raid on the greenhouse
the medical use of marijuana." he maintained. Since being re-arrested by
Mr. Costa's sentencing date has not been federal agents on August 10, 2005, Mr.
set, but he could face in excess of 20 years Because of the U.S. Supreme Court deci- Costa has been held in Fresno County jail.
in prison. Mr. Costa indicated he will sion in Gonzales v. Raich, patients like
appeal his conviction to the Ninth Circuit. Costa cannot mention the phrase "medical Mr. Costa represents the first of nearly a
marijuana," let alone provide a medical hundred patients and providers expected
The federal charges were brought against defense in federal court. This was the first to go to trial on arrests that have occurred
Mr. Costa only after 18 months of state federal trial of a medical cannabis patient since Gonzales v. Raich. More than 90
court proceedings made it clear to local since the high-profile 2003 conviction of patients and providers have been arrested
prosecutors that California's medical author Ed Rosenthal. In the Rosenthal case, and nearly as many currently await trial in
cannabis law would provide him a defense. the jury repudiated their verdict once they federal court.