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An inactive doctor who said he performed medical missionary work abroad will try to avoid a possible prison sentence - for charges of growing marijuana - by applying for supervision by a special mental health unit started by the Morris County Prosecutor's Office.
Dr. Edwin Bliss Struve, 63, a nonpracticing physician who is board-certified in internal medicine, was arrested in May after borough police went to his home in Chatham April 29 to check on his emotional welfare. Officers smelled a heavy odor of raw marijuana there, according to authorities.
Defense lawyer Robert Dunn said that he will seek to get Struve accepted into a special mental health diversionary program designed to keep defendants with legitimate mental health issues out of the prison system.
Struve is accused of maintaining or operating a marijuana production facility and possession with intent to distribute the drug. After responding to his home in April and then obtaining a search warrant, police discovered 58 plants and other paraphernalia associated with growing marijuana.
Struve has said he studied pediatrics at Harvard University and is board-certified in internal medicine. He has said his interest was medical anthropology and that he practiced in Peru, Botswana, an Indian reservation in Mississippi and in New Guinea, where he contracted malaria. He also has said he was choked during a violent incident on the reservation and suffered brain damage that ended his medical career. He said the marijuana was for his own use, helpful in relieving the glaucoma he suffers.
The prosecutor's office started the special program in the past year with the goal of steering criminal defendants with bona fide mental illnesses into therapeutic programs. Defendants admit guilt and are supervised on probation but have mental health resources made available to them to help them recover and stay crime-free.
So far, one individual is in the Morris County program.
Dunn said that Struve is diagnosed with a mental health disease and is eager to receive counseling and help. Dunn declined to give the diagnosis.
Several weeks ago, the prosecutor's office proposed a plea deal of seven years in state prison for Struve.
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: app.com
Author: PEGGY WRIGHT
Contact: APP.com/Asbury Park Press contacts | APP.com | Asbury Park Press
Copyright: 2010 app.com
Website:Chatham doctor charged with growing marijuana aims to avoid prison | APP.com | Asbury Park Press
Dr. Edwin Bliss Struve, 63, a nonpracticing physician who is board-certified in internal medicine, was arrested in May after borough police went to his home in Chatham April 29 to check on his emotional welfare. Officers smelled a heavy odor of raw marijuana there, according to authorities.
Defense lawyer Robert Dunn said that he will seek to get Struve accepted into a special mental health diversionary program designed to keep defendants with legitimate mental health issues out of the prison system.
Struve is accused of maintaining or operating a marijuana production facility and possession with intent to distribute the drug. After responding to his home in April and then obtaining a search warrant, police discovered 58 plants and other paraphernalia associated with growing marijuana.
Struve has said he studied pediatrics at Harvard University and is board-certified in internal medicine. He has said his interest was medical anthropology and that he practiced in Peru, Botswana, an Indian reservation in Mississippi and in New Guinea, where he contracted malaria. He also has said he was choked during a violent incident on the reservation and suffered brain damage that ended his medical career. He said the marijuana was for his own use, helpful in relieving the glaucoma he suffers.
The prosecutor's office started the special program in the past year with the goal of steering criminal defendants with bona fide mental illnesses into therapeutic programs. Defendants admit guilt and are supervised on probation but have mental health resources made available to them to help them recover and stay crime-free.
So far, one individual is in the Morris County program.
Dunn said that Struve is diagnosed with a mental health disease and is eager to receive counseling and help. Dunn declined to give the diagnosis.
Several weeks ago, the prosecutor's office proposed a plea deal of seven years in state prison for Struve.
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: app.com
Author: PEGGY WRIGHT
Contact: APP.com/Asbury Park Press contacts | APP.com | Asbury Park Press
Copyright: 2010 app.com
Website:Chatham doctor charged with growing marijuana aims to avoid prison | APP.com | Asbury Park Press
