A Washington man who, like his family, faces years in prison if convicted in a high-profile federal case over growing marijuana, says the feds should drop their case because it conflicts with new medical marijuana protections contained in the recently enacted $1.1 trillion federal spending bill.
In a brief filed last week on behalf of Larry Harvey — a 71-year-old man who grew marijuana with his family on the property of their rural Washington home, for what they say was their own medical use — attorney Robert Fischer argues that the federal case against the Harvey family undermines Washington state law by threatening patients with federal prosecution and preventing states from “implementing their own laws.” Fischer contends that the federal government is trampling over recently passed Congressional protections for states that have medical marijuana laws in place.
The sprawling federal omnibus spending bill, signed by President Barack Obama in December, was flooded with hundreds of additional provisions — including a historic measure to prohibit the Department of Justice from using funds to go after state-legal medical marijuana programs. Fischer argues that that provision protects medical marijuana patients like the Harvey family from federal prosecution.
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During pre-trial hearings, the five defendants rejected plea deals offered by the prosecution that would have reduced their maximum prison sentences to three years apiece. Without the deals, they each face penalties ranging from 40 years to life in federal prison.
Harvey was recently diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer, and if convicted, he may not survive until the end of such a lengthy prison sentence. The average life expectancy for a patient with metastatic pancreatic cancer is three to six months, according to the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research. Pancreatic cancer has the highest mortality rate of all the major cancers, the foundation says.
A hearing on the motion to dismiss is scheduled for mid-February. If charges aren’t dropped, the Harvey trial is expected to begin later that month.
