Legal News

Buzzkill: Marijuana dispensary owner finally sentenced

By Richard Binder

After nearly a two-month delay, Judge George H. Wu sentenced Charles C. Lynch, who ran a marijuana dispensary in Morro, to a year in prison, a sign that providers of medical marijuana still face the possibility of jail time despite the Obama administration?s promise not to prosecute them if they comply with state law.

Wu said the changed federal policy did not directly affect his ruling, but talked at length about what he said were Mr. Lynch?s many efforts to follow California?s laws on marijuana dispensaries and the difficulty the judge had finding a loophole to avoid sending him to prison.

Mr. Lynch, 47, was convicted last summer on five federal counts in connection with the running of his dispensary and the selling of medical marijuana to customers under 21. His defense lawyer, Reuven Cohen, said he planned to appeal the sentence.

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Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on June 12, 2009 (boomark / email).