home>>>

Marijuana case dismissed

Molly Borgstrom Baraboo News Republic

Baraboo, WI Dec 18, 2004 -- Earlier this week a Sauk County judge threw out a case against a woman charged with marijuana possession because she had an out-of-state prescription for the drug.

"I've been doing this for 17 years and this is the first such prescription I've seen," said Assistant District Attorney Kevin Calkins, who prosecuted the case.

Medical marijuana is illegal in Wisconsin, but statutes allow possession where the patient has a valid prescription from a practitioner licensed to prescribe the drug. Calkins said the defendant in this case, Cheryl A. Lam, 53, of Sun Prairie, showed proof of her prescription in court and Judge James Evenson dismissed the case.

Calkins said he doubted whether the ruling, although unusual, would affect future court cases. Legal precedent cannot be established at the circuit court level, and his office has no plans to appeal and move the case up in the courts, Calkins said.

Medical marijuana advocates place more importance on the ruling, said Gary Storck, a spokesperson for the Madison chapters of Is My Medicine Legal YET? and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.