Pubdate: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 1999 The New York Times Company Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ Forum: http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/ CASE INVOLVING MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA RESULTS IN PLEA Two advocates of the medicinal use of marijuana pleaded guilty today to growing more than 6,000 plants and selling the drug, saying their only hope was to ask for a judge's mercy after they were precluded from raising medical issues in their defense. The two men, Peter McWilliams and Todd McCormick, intended to tell jurors about the state law passed by voters in 1996 allowing marijuana use for medical purposes, its purported benefits and their own health. Mr. McWilliams has AIDS, and Mr. McCormick has fused vertebrae from childhood cancer treatments. But Judge George H. King of Federal District Court here barred them from raising those issues in the courtroom after prosecutors contended that doing so would confuse and mislead jurors. At the heart of the dispute was whether a ''medical necessity defense'' saying they broke the law because their health required it could be used when Congress had classified the drug in question as having no legitimate use. ''Given the judge's logic, that the medical necessity defense does not exist, someone in Peter's situation has only two remedies to prevent him from going to jail,'' said Tom Ballanco, a lawyer for Mr. McWilliams. ''One is prosecutorial discretion, and the other is compassion on the part of the judge,'' Mr. Ballanco said. ''Here, obviously, the prosecutors chose to prosecute, so it's all up to the judge to demonstrate there is some compassion in the federal law. I am hoping that he will.'' Both pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to manufacture and distribute marijuana. In doing so, they capitulated to a set of facts that they continued to dispute outside the courtroom. Based on letters Mr. McCormick wrote to Mr. McWilliams, prosecutors maintained the men were planning to sell marijuana to cannabis clubs where ill people go to use the drug. But the defendants maintained they were growing the plants for personal use and for a book Mr. McCormick was writing about medical marijuana. Mr. McWilliams, a book publisher, acknowledged growing 300 of his own plants but insisted the roughly $100,000 he gave Mr. McCormick was a book advance, not financing for the growing operation. The case also highlighted a conflict in federal law. Despite Congress's stance, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit allowed a cannabis club in Oakland to resume providing marijuana to patients in September, saying medical necessity could be used as a defense against a court injunction obtained by the Clinton administration. Mr. McWilliams, who faces up to five years in prison under his plea, waived his right to appeal on that issue. But Mr. McCormick will appeal Judge King's ruling on the medical necessity defense. If he loses, he will face five years in prison. ''I felt this was the smartest way to protect my health and my well-being,'' Mr. McCormick told reporters outside court afterward. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake