STATE OF INDIANA v. JEANNE HORTON Marion County Superior Court 10 Cause No.

49F10-0104-CM-080118 (2001) In 2001, Jeanne Horton, a 34 year old disabled woman called me for help with her pending marijuana and paraphernalia possession case in Indianapolis. She was referred by NORML. She told me she didnt have even the $50.00 minimum public defender reimbursement fee. I agreed to help her for free. Jeanne was divorced and had two (2) children with her in a modest subsidized apartment. She had multiple sclerosis for fourteen years. She was unable to walk, or use most of her muscles for nine years, and was confined to her hospital bed with a special air mattress for her bed sores. In April of 2001, an undercover officer was at Jeannes apartment to talk with her teenage son about an incident at his high school. He came in the apartment and arrested her son and his two friends who were smoking marijuana in a bong in the front room. He officer proceed to Jeannes bedroom. She admitted the pipe and two grams of marijuana next to her bed were hers and that it was as medicine for her nausea, pain, and depression from her chronic multiple sclerosis. She told him that her doctor knew she was using it, and that he had found it was effective in helping her fight the wasting syndrome. She had gained weight, reported pain and depression relief from her regular use of small amounts of marijuana. I thought that the State would surely dismiss her case. How could they justify prosecuting this disabled woman without no prior criminal record for a small amount of marijuana in her home which was keeping her alive? But the Deputy Prosecuting Attorney laughed at the suggestion at the pre-trial conference, we requested a jury trial. After hearings in front of several different judges, we were finally allowed to present a necessity defense to the jury. Dr. Farlow of I.U. Hospital in Indianapolis wrote a letter explaining her need for continued marijuana use for her condition. It was allowing her to stop wasting (gain weight), reduce pain, and reduce depression. Dr. David Bearman, medical marijuana expert and physician from Santa Barbara, California was deposed and submitted his Verified Affidavit/Report on Multiple Sclerosis and Medical Marijuana on November 16, 2001. The case was scheduled for jury trial twice. The Court called to confirm the jury trial on Friday before the trial. On trial day, the Court and jury pool judge reported that there were not six (6) jurors available for trial from the jury pool of hundreds of citizens. The Court rescheduled the jury trial several weeks later. The Court called the Friday before trial to confirm the jury trial a second time, but again we were denied trial because a courtroom wasnt supposedly available to accommodate Jeannes hospital bed from which the Judge said she could testify. The people in Indianapolis were overwhelmingly in support of Jeannes right to use marijuana under the approval of her physician to help with her serious medical condition. The Indianapolis Star and Channel 8 did a survey and found that about 80% of the people polled said that she shouldnt be prosecuted. After a strong personal discussion with the Prosecutor, the case was dismissed. What a waste of law enforcement and Court resources. The public reaction clearly shows that Indiana citizens would support medical marijuana in roughly the same percentage as in the fifteen states that have medical marijuana.