MMJ Victory for Aaron Paradiso in Stockton!!

The Record: Paralyzed man OK'd to grow pot at home
SCOTT SMITH, Record Staff Writer
Published Wednesday, Feb 1, 2006
Source: Stockton Record
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060201/NEWS01/602010330/1001

STOCKTON - A man paralyzed from the neck down may continue to cultivate
and grow marijuana at his home northeast of Stockton under a plea deal he
reached Tuesday with the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors dropped felony drug charges against a Aaron Paradiso, a
27-year-old quadriplegic who uses marijuana to treat muscle spasms.
Paradiso was injured in a 1998 traffic accident.

Paradiso pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Richard Guiliani to a
lesser misdemeanor count of possessing an illegal weapon and will have to
spend three years on informal probation, under the plea deal.

"I think it was encouraging for medical marijuana patients in Stockton and
San Joaquin County in general," Paradiso said. "It makes it easier for the
next person, I hope."

The district attorney's office charged Paradiso three years ago with three
felony counts that included cultivating marijuana and possession of
marijuana with the intent to sell. He also faced a felony count of
possessing a firearm despite a juvenile conviction that barred him from
being around guns.

Sheriff's deputies found 52 marijuana plants and guns at his house in
August 2003 when they responded to reports from neighbors of shots being
fired. Prosecutors filed charges saying the number of plants Paradiso
cultivated was in violation of state law. Under the plea agreement,
Paradiso has to give up the guns and plants deputies confiscated.

Deputy District Attorney Phil Urie said the outcome was good for his
office and Paradiso alike. Urie said California's ambiguous medical
marijuana laws frustrate both law enforcement and those who want to use
cannabis as medicine.

Winning the case would have been tough considering Paradiso's physical
condition, Urie said.

"It has zero jury appeal," he said. "When the defendant goes into spasms,
that looks terrible."

Urie said Paradiso's misdemeanor plea was the most important part of the
case.

Mill Valley attorney M. Gerald Schwartzbach said the long trial would have
drained his client both financially and physically. It may have shortened
Paradiso's life, he said.

"Regardless of the outcome, neither side would have won," Schwartzbach said.

Related charges filed against Paradiso's mother, Debra Paradiso, and their
friend Robert Turano also were dropped under the plea deal.

Contact reporter Scott Smith at (209) 546-8296 or ssmith [at] recordnet.com

[end]

The Record: It's no time for reefer madness
MICHAEL FITZGERALD, Record Columnist
Published Wednesday, Feb 1, 2006
Source:
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060201/OPED0301/602010344

San Joaquin's highest-profile medical marijuana case went up in smoke
Tuesday, and the futility of prosecuting it suggests Stockton's leaders
better rethink any legally shaky resistance to California's medical
marijuana law.

After three long years, possible aerial surveillance, a raid, "safe
access" demonstrations at City Hall, celeb attorneys, news at 11 and
who-knows-what costs to taxpayers, the DA on Tuesday dropped all
pot-related charges against Aaron Paradiso.

Paradiso, a wheelchair-bound quadriplegic - a poster boy for Proposition
215 if ever there was one - and his harmless "co-op" of his mother and a
friend or two had been charged with cultivating marijuana and possessing
it with the intent to sell.

Paradiso was paralyzed in a 1998 car crash. He hurts. He suffers muscle
spasms. Marijuana eases them, he says. So he grew it.

Authorities knew. He called them to ask how much was OK under Proposition
215. They couldn't say. Then coppers raided Paradiso's rural Stockton home
in 2003 and seized 52 pot plants. Thanks for calling.

Admittedly, 52 plants is much more pot than one medical marijuana patient
needs, even if the patient is Tommy Chong. But remember, Paradiso had a
co-op of several users. All had a doctor's OK.

And there were no guidelines. Proposition 215 didn't say how much was too
much.

There may have been more to Paradiso's cultivation than met the eye.
Prosecutors, however, never produced evidence of marijuana sales -
records, pagers, stacks of cash - nothing of that sort. So it sure looks
like it was for his co-op's legal use.

Paradiso did admit giving surplus pot to a dispensary.

Deputies also seized, according to prosecutor Phil Urie, "enough guns to
choke a horse." The guns complicate the picture.

In the plea agreement, Paradiso pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of
possessing an illegal weapon. He committed some offense as a juvenile and
was not supposed to own a gun until age 30.

He says his mom owned them. The DA's office says he did. But even if the
DA is right, the gun charge still seems overblown. Paradiso can't lift a
finger to hold, let alone fire, a gun. It's unclear what the horse was
choking on.

Guns could support a prosecution theory of sales. But the plea agreement
casts light on the gravity of the gun offense: Paradiso gets no jail time,
no fine, informal probation.

Yet Paradiso says he spent six figures defending himself. Taxpayers spent
a chunk of change, too. All on a case that just did a Houdini.

Pardon me if - in a city with the highest rate of major crime in the state
- that seems like a waste.

Nathan Sands, leader of Sacramento's Compassionate Coalition, said
Paradiso's victory on the marijuana front has broader implications.

"Clearly, Phil Urie originally intended this case to prove that patients
could not cultivate their medical marijuana in this county," Sands said.
"And in the end, he had to admit he was wrong on that point."

And that means the council should re-evaluate Urie's arguments against
medical marijuana dispensaries, Sands said.

Urie did not return a call for comment. He previously has expressed
legitimate concerns about dispensaries' potential for corruption and
violence.

But legitimate concerns don't justify legally iffy decisions. First the
council declared a one-year moratorium on dispensaries. Now leaders
contend zoning laws prohibit one.

The way is clear for anybody to apply for a dispensary permit and, when
denied, to sue the city, probably with the financial backing of the
pro-access groups. It's happening up and down California. The Paradiso
case suggests it is high time to take legally realistic positions on
medical marijuana issues.

Contact columnist Michael Fitzgerald at (209) 546-8270 or
michaelf [at] recordnet.com