Pubdate: Thu, 18 Aug 2005
Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 2005 The Fresno Bee
Contact:  http://www.fresnobee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/161
Author: Pablo Lopez
Cited: Common Sense for Drug Policy ( www.csdp.org )
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

BAIL DENIED FOR MEDICAL POT ACTIVIST

Judge says Merced man is a flight risk because he faces the potential of a
long prison term.

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a Merced medical marijuana activist
must remain in jail without bail because he is a flight risk and a potential
danger to the community.

Magistrate Judge Sandra M. Snyder said she empathizes with Dustin Costa, 58,
but federal law forces her to treat suspected drug dealers the same.

Many of Costa's supporters groaned when Snyder made her ruling in U.S.
District Court in Fresno. Others had jeered prosecutor Karen A. Escobar, who
argued that marijuana was not only illegal, but had no medicinal value.

The supporters, who came from Merced, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego and
elsewhere, vowed to return when Costa has his next hearing on Aug. 29.

Since his arrest on Aug. 11, Costa, president of the Merced Patients Group,
a private cannabis club in Merced that claims 230 members, has become the
focal point in the local debate about medical marijuana.

A three-count indictment charges Costa with growing more than 100 marijuana
plants, equivalent to nearly 9 pounds, in February 2004 with the intent to
distribute. Costa also faces a charge of possession of a firearm "in
furtherance of drug trafficking crime."

The case against Costa, who is known as the Rev. D.C. Greenhouse, is not
clear-cut, legal experts said.

In November 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215, the
Compassionate Use Act, which gives ill people the right to use marijuana for
medicinal purposes when deemed appropriate by a doctor. The state law also
allows possession or cultivation of marijuana by the patient or by the
patient's "primary caregiver."

In June this year, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled California voters,
saying the federal government can prosecute people who use marijuana for
medicinal purposes.

Costa's lawyer, Robert Rainwater, told Snyder that his client is not a
criminal because he had a reasonable belief that he was growing and
distributing marijuana while it was still legal under state law.

In arguing for Costa's release on $1,000 bail, Rainwater told Snyder that
his client is a primary caregiver, as well as a user who was legally
prescribed marijuana for his diabetes, nervous disorder and other ailments.

Snyder said: "The court is well aware of the medical, philosophical and
spiritual arguments," but in this case federal law prohibits the
cultivation, possession and trafficking of marijuana. "I'm sitting in a
federal court," Snyder said.

In her ruling, Snyder said Costa is a flight risk because of the seriousness
of the charges and the potential punishment of a long prison sentence and a
hefty fine.

The federal case against Costa repackages the same marijuana cultivation
charges that he fought in Merced Count Superior Court for more than a year.

Back then, Costa was represented by William McPike, who said Wednesday that
Merced Superior District Attorney Gordon Spencer dropped the charges and
handed the case to federal prosecutors once he learned that a medical
marijuana defense was going to be used in state court.

Spencer said the District Attorney's Office had always planned to turn over
the case to federal prosecutors.

John Bain, vice president of the Merced Patients Group, said Costa isn't a
flight risk. "He's proud to stand up and fight for the people" who
desperately need marijuana to relieve their pain.

Mike Gray, chairman of Common Sense for Drug Policy in Los Angeles, said
Costa's case will be closely watched because it is making criminals out of
law-abiding citizens. Gray said the problem is that marijuana is classified
by law enforcement to be as dangerous as heroin. Legislators, he said, must
change the classification.
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