Man Charged For Growing Pot, Found Not Guilty After Claiming He Needed It As Medicine

Jacob Redmond

Well-Known Member
Jesse Teplicki, who was arrested in 2013 for growing marijuana, was found not guilty by a jury on Monday. After just 30 minutes of deliberating, the jury delivered its verdict, making Florida history. Teplicki says he uses pot to treat his severe anorexia, and thus became the first man in the state's history to successfully use as a defense the concept that pot was medically necessary.

"This was a groundbreaking case, and we're very pleased that the jury acquitted Mr. Teplicki on all charges," said attorney Michael Minardi. "The evidence showed he was using cannabis to help him manage a serious and painful medical condition which he has endured for years."

Teplicki, 50, who says he's smoked marijuana for medical reasons for the past 33 years, has said that his anorexia is so severe, he has no appetite at all. The marijuana, he says, stimulates his appetite and reduces nausea. In 2013, going off an anonymous tip, Broward Sheriff's Office deputies found a grow house in his home, where he was growing 46 marijuana plants.

Following his arrest and charge, prosecutors gave Teplicki a probationary offer, but he turned it down.

"Jesse didn't want to take the prosecution's offer because he's a family man, not a criminal," Minardi told New Times. "He leads a good life and is a good family man. The marijuana is for medical reasons."

Teplicki says that to treat the disorder as a child, he was given anabolic steroids, which worked for some time. But continued use of the steroids caused liver scarring and cysts, as well as other serious side effects. Teplicki then began using cannabis as a form of treatment instead, allowing him to live a pain-free, normal life. When all medicines either failed or made things worse, marijuana has helped and healed.

For the defense, Minardi and partner Kelley Kronenberg were able to use several hours of testimony from Dr. Denis Petro, a board-certified neurologist who has conducted clinical trials, testified, and written extensively about the medical benefits of marijuana.

"We obviously believe Jesse wouldn't be alive today if not for marijuana," Minardi says.

The verdict comes just as the Florida Legislature is about to take up the legality of medical marijuana with a Senate bill filed by Sen. Jeff Brandes. If passed, the bill would authorize doctors to use medicinal marijuana to treat patients afflicted with specific illnesses, such as cancer, epilepsy, AIDS, ALS, Crohn's disease, and Parkinson's disease.

According to the proposed bill, there would be a license for cultivation and processing medical marijuana and another for selling it. The bill would also allow county commissioners throughout the state to decide where medical marijuana could be sold.

The bill is being introduced on the tail of United for Care launching another petition drive to get medical marijuana on the 2016 ballot.

In a statement Monday night, United for Care's Ben Pollara called Teplicki's not-guilty verdict a game changer for the start of the legislative session.

"Legislative leaders in Tallahassee now have to look at medical marijuana through the lens of this precedent established by a Florida jury, in addition to the 58 percent of Floridians who voted for medical marijuana at the polls last November," Pollara said. "The medical use of marijuana is no longer solely a political issue with wide popular support; it is legal precedent in Florida courts. This ruling should be a message to the Legislature that they should act this session on establishing a medical marijuana system in our state so that sick and suffering Floridians don't have to fight in court for the right to use the medicine recommended by their doctors, as Mr. Teplicki did today."

12850.jpg


News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Jesse Teplicki, Charged for Growing Pot, Found Not Guilty After Claiming He Needed It as Medicine | New Times Broward-Palm Beach
Author: Chris Joseph
Contact: chris.joseph@browardpalmbeach.com
Photo Credit: Kym Kemp
Website: New Times Broward-Palm Beach Blogs - Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach
 
Re: Man Charged For Growing Pot, Found Not Guilty After Claiming He Needed It As Medi

This case shows that the legislature in Florida is wholly out of step with the perspective and the desires of the citizens of the Sunshine State. The FL government has proven itself inept or unwilling to implement even the non-psychoactive Charlotte's Web legislation that mandated the initiation of patient access by Jan 1, and compassion for the suffering in Florida has not seemed to be of major concern to them and the law enforcement representatives who continue to rail against it.

The citizens spoke loudly last year when 58% voted for a constitutional amendment for full medical marijuana legalization but a majority does not count in FL (it needed 60% to pass). You might think this would prompt the legislature to get ahead of the issue and pass a true MMJ program in advance of a second popular amendment vote expected in 2016 (which hopefully will pass), but there is little hope for successful legislation given the fear and panic from brainiacs in Tallahassee that even the non-psychoactive CW devil's weed would destroy our communities and corrupt our children.

This case now establishes precedent for an affirmative defense for citizens actually in need of therapeutic cannabis to address their medical needs. The bar for suitable medical supply is now set rather high too (in a good way) as the jury took no issue with the defendant's claim that he required 46 plants to meet his personal need to treat his anorexia. The jury members interviewed stated that compassion and medical necessity outweighed the state's interest in prohibiting home cultivation and preventing citizens from self-medicating for potentially effective remedy from cannabis for personal use. In this case, reason triumphed over the reefer madness hysteria of the prohibitionists.

The time is rapidly approaching for the FL legislators to lead or get out of the way and allow the citizens to set the rules for themselves. If this case turns into a strong precedent, it may become very difficult for any prosecutor to find a jury that will unanimously convict a defendant for the cultivation and/or use of cannabis to treat established medical conditions in the privacy of their home. The tide is turning, and even the petty tyrants of Florida will be powerless against this relentless tide.
 
Re: Man Charged For Growing Pot, Found Not Guilty After Claiming He Needed It As Medi

As time goes on, we'll see more and more cases like this.

As they say "A jury of your peers", it seems to me that the majority of this country wants better options for managing health problems, if every juror was able to agree in just 30 minutes.

I'm glad to see these BS laws won't ruin another life.
 
Re: Man Charged For Growing Pot, Found Not Guilty After Claiming He Needed It As Medi

Yah, Tokezilla you hit the nail on the head and drove it home.

Florida is a funny state, as much time as I spend there I still have a hard time getting a pulse on things, from county to county. The voters did send a clear message, so, what's the problem?

Anyway, I'll be down in a few weeks,, I need some sun.
 
Back
Top Bottom