Nevada DA didn't expect a conviction
ASSOCIATED PRESS

CARSON CITY, Nev. A felony marijuana possession charge against a cancer
victim who purchased pot through a San Francisco cannabis club was dropped
Monday at the request of a prosecutor who said he probably couldn't get a
conviction in the case.
District Judge Mike Fondi granted the motion, filed a day before the
start of Douglas Burton's scheduled 3 & 1/2day trial by District
Attorney Noel Waters, who said Burton could make a good "medical
necessity" argument. Waters said Burton's thyroid cancer has spread to
his lymph nodes and his deteriorating medical condition "makes him a
sympathetic figure. The state's interest in securing a felony conviction
upon this cancer sufferer is not very high."
"The case itself is being publicized as a test case for California's
liberalized pot laws," Waters said. "On balance, it is respectfully
submitted that the interests of justice would best be served by dismissal."
The charge was dropped even though Burton's lawyer, Richard Sears,
hadn't been able to produce a doctor's prescription or order for the
marijuana.
Sears said he had been unable to contact a doctor named by Burton. The
case apparently was the as the person who directed him to first interstate
proceeding that in the Cannabis Cultivators Club involves medicinal
marijuana sales, San Francisco, where he got marijuana to help him cope
with pain and nausea.
Sears also said that if Burton couldn't use marijuana, he couldn't keep
down medication that may help prolong his life. He also argued Burton
simply didn't realize that what might be tolerated in California is a
felony in Nevada.
Burton, 44, was arrested Feb.14 after he showed an officer seven baggies
of marijuana he had just bought in San Francisco. After picking up the
marijuana, he traveled to Carson City to 'visit his parents before
returning to his home in Moreno Valley, Riverside County.