Pubdate: Wed, 13 Mar 2013
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Copyright: 2013 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Contact:  http://www.philly.com/inquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author: Jan Hefler
Page: B2
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/people/Forchion

TERM GIVEN TO DRUG ACTIVIST

A Nine-Month Sentence Was Handed Down to the NJ Weedman.

The man who calls himself NJ Weedman was sentenced Tuesday to a 
harsher term for violating probation than he had received for 
possessing a pound of marijuana.

Ed Forchion, 48, received nine months in the Burlington County Jail 
for failing to sign up immediately with the probation department 
after he was sentenced in January to two years on probation on an 
April 2010 drug charge.

Forchion, a former New Jerseyan who lives in Los Angeles, was 
arrested Jan. 31 at Philadelphia International Airport as he prepared 
to fly home.

Superior Court Judge Charles Delehey had allowed the 
marijuana-legalization activist to return home for medical treatments 
for bone tumors and to transfer his probation there.

"The judge was upset he didn't report right away, and Forchion 
apologized," said Don Ackerman, his public defender. The judge then 
said he would allow Forchion to complete his medical treatments in 
California and then return to finish his sentence.

Forchion will get credit for 45 days in custody since his arrest in 
Philadelphia.

He had persuaded a jury to acquit him of more serious charges of drug 
distribution last year after testifying that he used marijuana to 
alleviate pain from the tumors. He is believed to be the only person 
in the state to base his criminal defense on the inconsistency of the 
criminal and medical-marijuana drug laws.

Forchion argued that he would have qualified for medical marijuana in 
New Jersey but was still prosecuted. He has a license to use medical 
marijuana in California, but New Jersey does not recognize it.

He could have received 10 years on the distribution charges and up to 
18 months on his drug possession conviction. Instead, he ended up 
with jail for violating probation.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom