Medical Marijuana advertised for sale on craigslist
The question as to if Medical Marijuana can be sold on Craigslist in Sonoma County may be decided one way or another by wine county courts. In April of 2012, 43 year old Krish Singh was arrested for the advertising and sale of medical marijuana through advertising on Craigslist. Mr. Singh claims that the medical marijuana advertising had appropriate language to indicate that sales and deliveries of medical marijuana would only be to qualified patients with a current doctor’s recommendations. Mr. Singh was arrested while making a transaction in a Target store parking lot. It is alleged that Mr. Singh was offering high grade marijuana for $2,700 per pound.
This may seem pricey to the general public, and the Santa Rosa Police Department may argue that the medical marijuana being sold by Mr. Singh is being offered at a price such that Mr. Singh stands to gain a large profit margin. Any profit earned by Mr. Singh actually pales in comparison to the current price of Marinol (synthesized medical marijuana prescribed by physicians) at Wal-Mart which is $800.67 dollars (with a coupon) per 10 milligram dose. It could be argued that Mr. Singh is the more legitimate business man, as the profit margin for Mr. Singh’s medical marijuana is far less in cost for a patient undergoing chemotherapy compared to what the standard drug company will make in Marinol profits. Some patients undergoing chemotherapy need far more than 10 mg to get through even 12 hours of a given day, and chemotherapy can last several months, which even at just two does per day adds up to a monthly cost of $48,000 and thousands of dollars in profit to pharmaceutical companies.
The Craigslist ad cited Proposition 215 and posted that Californians can only use and possess medical marijuana with a current legal doctor’s recommendation. There are many Craigslist advertisements that target the sale of medical marijuana in Sonoma County that claim they are intended for Proposition 215 compliant buyers that have the appropriate medical marijuana recommendations that are currently up to date and legal according to the state of California, as cited in Proposition 215.
Even still, undercover agents solicited Mr. Singh online and set up a sting operation while waiting in the Target parking lot and arrested Mr. Singh on site for the illegal sale of drugs, even despite Mr. Singh’s claims that the contents of his car, the medical marijuana, was intended for qualified medical marijuana patients.
It has been reported in the Press Democrat that the Santa Rosa Police Department takes the position that the Craigslist ads are posted by drug dealers who are selling contraband while hiding behind the guise of medical marijuana providers to ill patients. It has been further reported that the Santa Rosa Police Department has stated that they are in no way obstructing medicine from ill patients who have valid medical marijuana recommendations, but must crack down on illegal drug operations. The medical marijuana law attorneys at Beck Law P.C. find that the line between advertising, delivering, and selling medical marijuana to patients in serious medical need is often hard to define for officials and officers of the law as they trudge their way through the legal balancing act of what is allowed federally and what is allowed by the state of California.
Sonoma County defense lawyers will claim that under state law, the distribution of medical marijuana is legal and allowed, and internet advertising is completely within the law. Products are allowed to be sold and advertised on Craigslist, and medical marijuana is one of those products, provided the sale is made to qualified patients. It is, under California law, legal to provide medical marijuana to patients. It is argued that patients are often too sick to “grow” and/or do not have the means to get their medication other than online because sometimes they do not have transportation or any way of obtaining the relief that they need for their medical issues, such as nausea, chronic pain, fibromyalgia, chronic stress and other medical disorders.
The medical marijuana law attorneys at Beck Law P.C. anxiously await the legal decisions that are still pending regarding the sale and delivery of medical marijuana to patients. It will be very interesting to see the outcome of internet sales of medical marijuana on Craigslist as we proceed through these legal issues regarding the use of medical marijuana vs. the federal government and medical marijuana vs. the state.
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