Marijuana Grower with Multiple Sclerosis Faces 20 Years in Prison

Medical marijuana advocates protest outside the Somerset courthouse.

37-year-old John Ray Wilson has multiple sclerosis, and he's found that smoking the leaves of a certain plant helps alleviate his symptoms. So he grew 17 of the plants in the ground on his property. But the government of New Jersey believes that plant is evil and must be driven from the earth, so the Attorney General is trying to send Wilson to prison. For twenty years. The plant, obviously, is marijuana, and America, obviously, is really screwed up. The most serious charge against Wilson is that he was operating a drug production facility, and unfortunately for him, the judge has forbidden his lawyers from making any mention his illness during the trial.

Superior Court Judge and human paraquat Robert Reed ruled in July that the decision to allow medical marijuana was a matter for the Legislature and inadmissible in court. Wilson's lawyer says, "Imagine going to trial and you can't tell the jury why you were doing what you were doing?... We're not having one hand tied behind us, we're having two hands tied behind us... He is not a dealer, he is not involved in any distribution, he is trying to treat himself. And the state of New Jersey wants to put him in prison for 20 years? It's outrageous. You're better off being a crooked politician; you've got a much better chance of not being charged with anything."

The Jersey State Senate has actually passed a bill that would allow the use of marijuana under certain medical circumstances, and a similar measure is pending in the Assembly, the Star-Ledger reports. If the bill becomes law, New Jersey would become the 14th state to stop being so insane and legalize medical marijuana. But it will probably be too late for Wilson, whose case has sparked angry protests outside the Somerville court. Below, check out a great video of the sick, rightfully infuriated demonstrators.

Medical marijuana advocates protest at Somerset courthouse

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By John Del Signore in News on December 16, 2009 5:55 PM

Comments [rss]

Duncan20903

"An unjust law is no law at all" -St Augustine

"One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws"

--Martin Luther King Jr

It is hardly 'immoral' to seek relief from a medical condition like MS. The immorality is 100% on the side of those who would deny this person relief from his condition.

Malcolm Tucker

Wow I feel fuckin' safer now that he's locked away.

Clarice City

So you can get drunk and kill as many people as you want with an SUV and serve no time at all, or maybe three years tops, but grow organic medicine for your MS pains and you're in the slammer for 20 years?

thefacts

Clearly, 17 plants is not for his personal use. Up here, a plant's production averages four ounces. That is over 4 pounds he is producing,

That stretches the limit for annual personal use of sense. If he only had a couple of plants, he might have been able to explain it away more easily.

Mordicai

This is all ridiculous. Marijuana is better (by pretty much every standard) than alcohol. At least the teetotalers who cause the Prohibition had logical consistency-- I'm not saying meth & heroin should be legal, just stupid pot. The weird War on Drugs will always fail when it tries to tackle stuff like this. Open some hashbars, regulate THC content, & rake in the tax dollars. Get with the program already.

sowhtifithppnsitwll

without reading the comments....

Can't a question be put to the jury without mentioning names?

graybanks

Dear Judge Robert Reed,

My brother has MS, and, like the defendant, also finds that a bit of MJ helps keep the tremors, pain and other effects at bay.

Also like the defendant, he lives in a state where this is illegal.

Though it only masks the symptoms, there is no cure for the cause, and penalizing someone for trying to spend their final days in comfort is the worst insult to their injury possible.

If this trial proceeds, and this man is given anything more than a sincere apology, I can only hope that you too would get to experience MS first hand. Maybe then you will not be the heartless piece-of-shit petty tyrant you so clearly are now.

Regards,

M

nohateparade

high and bye, mr. wilson. the penalty for marijuana usage/growage are disproportionately harsh in jersey versus, you know, california or in my dreams.

potsmoker

thats what i always said.

make 1-2 plants per household legal.

driving while high, illegal.

giving it to kids, illegal.

selling it, illegal.

growing your own, smoking your own, LEGAL.

it would save billions of dollars of waste, empty our prisons, and eliminate incentive for criminal gangs.

TimSPC

Poor old Johnny Ray.

vespavirgin

He moved a million hearts with MJ.

dadoc

People with serious conditions such as MS, MG, ALS, malignancies, etc should be able to do whatever the hell they want with their own bodies. Shrooms or not, this kind of crap is a waste of scarce government resources (AKA taxpayer's dollars).

My own personal opinion is that if people can grow any poisonous ornamental plant they want (Holly, ho,ho,ho)

the growing of any other plant or fungus should also be legal. Medical or otherwise. Would save us billions in taxes, and would actually ease a great burden on society overall.

But will never happen. Would be bad for the "business" of "government".

longacre

I'm no pot expert, but 17 plants sounds like a lot for personal use, no?

kazubes

I wonder why he needed 17 plants, the paper article also mentions they found shrooms in the house so I get the feeling there is more to it that medicinal use but who knows

farleft

To all of you people that say, "It's the law and it's illegal," I say "Fuck the law." I was prescribed medical marijuana when I had cancer about 15 years ago. It was really the only prescription that helped me get beyond the pain, nausea, and intense suffering. I really don't understand how such a "drug" can still be illegal, especially for medical use. Such an injustice.

Guest

typical politicians trying to control people... why? b/c they failed at controlling their own kids??

Guest

y'know, there're people with murder charges who get less than that. isn't he merely trying to help himself? i mean... wtf

starrygordon

The Drug War continues to be a crime against humanity. How people can participate in enforcing or supporting it is beyond me.

adeez

Yeah, the Court barred mention of medicinal use as a defense b/c it knew that the jury would acquit in a motherfuckin heartbeat.

This story should be heavily publicized so that the potential jurors all know about it.

God bless jury nullification.

silver

And public schools lowers the standard so kids no nothing these days about their government today.

nicemarmot

Was that actually supposed to be coherent, or are you just a random-blog-comment-catchphrase generator?

nicemarmot

I'm so glad we'll all be safe from this evil weed manufacturer with MS. He must have been real tough for those big bad policeman to take down. They probably had to do 5, even 6 minutes' worth of work. And the prosecutors, they're putting in their 5 minutes too. Look, everybody, we're prosecuting criminals and we don't even have to work for it!

ForrestWhitaker

Insanity. Good going New Jersey, glad you've your priorities in order!

felixthecat2

This upsets me a lot. Marijuana helps those in pain (physically and psychological). These drug companies are killing us with their drugs and all the side effects.

Dead Himmler

I agree but the law is the law and if you immorally break it be prepared to do the time. They need to CHANGE the law.

stokes88

Whats immoral is supporting a system that puts a man in prison for 20 years for growing plants.

mdow

You said it. Amazing, but most of all, sad. Note to other people in his situation: move to California and stay there until your state legalizes as they did. California may be screwed up in a lot of ways (budget, etc), but at least they've got this one right.

felixthecat2

Illegality and immorality aren't the same. Looks like Laws are made to protect this corrupt system and corporate America.

JenChungsBaby

I have a close family member who at the advice of a doctor uses marijuana medicinally here in New York. But it has to be obtained illegally. It's crazy that you can prescribe hard core shit like percocet and worse but you can't get pot with a doctor's diagnosis.