Pubdate: Fri, 23 Jan 2004
Source: Dispatch, The (MD)
Contact:  
http://www.mdcoastdispatch.com/index.html
Copyright: 2004 The Maryland Coast Dispatch, Inc.
Author: Benjamin L. Mook
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

MEDICAL MARIJUANA DEFENSE FALTERS

SNOW HILL -- A Whaleyville man's attempt to beat the drug charges against 
him by claiming he used marijuana as a homeopathic cure for depression 
proved unsuccessful at his trial last Friday.

Christopher Jason Foskey, 27, was found guilty in Worcester County Circuit 
Court of one count of possessing controlled production equipment. A second 
charge of possession of marijuana was dropped by prosecutors. Foskey was 
sentenced to 30 days in jail, to be served over 15 weekends.

In what had the potential to be a precedent-setting case, Foskey, through 
his attorney, J. Harrison Phillips III, had tried to take advantage of 
Maryland's new law that decriminalized marijuana use for medicinal 
purposes. Cases of marijuana possession where medicinal use is proved do 
not result in jail time and only carry a maximum $100 fine. Judge Theodore 
Eschenburg ruled against the medicinal use defense before handing down the 
sentence.

Foskey was arrested on April 16, 2003 after his landlord spotted suspected 
marijuana plants in his unit. A Worcester County Narcotics Unit detective 
then found 37, week-old, marijuana plants that were about an inch high and 
controlled paraphernalia.