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Name: People v. Moret
Case #: A123591
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 1 DCA
Division: 2
Opinion Date: 12/28/2009
Summary

A condition of probation prohibiting the use of medical marijuana is valid if it is reasonably related to future criminality and defendant has been found to consent to it. Appellant pled no contest to carrying a concealed firearm (Pen. Code, sec. 12025, subd. (a)(2)), and was granted three years probation with a condition prohibiting him from the use of marijuana and requiring him to give up his medical marijuana card. When interviewed by the probation officer preparing the presentence report, the 19-year-old defendant explained that he found the gun in some bushes and had recently obtained the medical card to enable him to use marijuana for treatment of migraine headaches. At sentencing, when appellant objected to the marijuana restrictions, the court indicated that he did not find appellant credible and offered him the choice of accepting the condition or going to jail. The appellate court upheld the condition, noting that the trial court’s rationale in ordering the condition was reasonable; under People v. Bravo (1987) 43 Cal.3d 600, appellant had the option of rejecting the condition and going to jail but, instead, consented to the condition; and that the medical marijuana statutes created an affirmative defense, and appellant had offered no evidence as to the medical need for marijuana, other than the card.