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.

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