Madison NORML

Source: Capital Times click here
Pubdate: 8 May 2009
Author: Gary Storck

JAIL OVER MEDICAL MARIJUANA AKIN TO TORTURE

Dear Editor: A recent letter writer called for the removal of U.S. Judge Jay Bybee for writing memos supporting torture when he was part of the Bush administration. Bybee was also part of a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that recently reaffirmed the 10-year mandatory minimum sentence of California medical cannabis provider Bryan Epis, on charges of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana.

Epis' case began in 1997, shortly after the passage of California's groundbreaking medical cannabis law by voters in 1996. According to NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), Epis' appeal was filed on various grounds, including prosecutorial misconduct and "the unclarity of the law at the time of his arrest." The judges did not even bother to hold a hearing, only issuing an 11-page denial.

Bryan Epis has already served part of the sentence, and he and his family have already been tortured enough by federal authorities. It is incredibly disgusting that torture was used widely to further our foreign policies in the Bush administration. Denying medicine to sick people and engaging in long, wasteful prosecutions of patients trying to help others legally under state laws, as Bryan Epis did, is a stain on a nation that claims to be an example of freedom and democracy. Not only should Bybee be impeached for his torture memos, but Bryan Epis deserves a full pardon under the new policy announced by Attorney General Eric Holder that state medical cannabis laws will be respected.

Gary Storck

Madison