OTTAWA — A jury has acquitted a medical cannabis patient after the defendant testified that the cannabis helped him treat his pain and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Loren J. Swift, a Vietnam Veteran, had served 49 days in custody before posting $10,000 bond after his arrest in October 2007 and was found not guilty of cannabis distribution charges last week in a La Salle County Circuit Court.

Jury nullification is the process of ruling a not guilty verdict when jurors feel that the law is wrong.  Illinois NORML encourages all those facing cannabis charges to ask for a jury trial and all those serving on a jury to nullify cannabis laws by acquitting defendants of cannabis charges.

Illinois could become the 14th state in 2009 to protect patients who use cannabis with their doctor’s recommendation, following Michigan’s passage of their medical cannabis initiative.  A 2008 Illinois poll conducted by Mason Dixon Polling and Research found that 68% of Illinois residents “support allowing seriously and terminally ill patients to use and grow medical marijuana for personal use if their doctors recommend it.”

Cannabis can be used to treat a number of different ailments and has not one documented overdose fatality.  If legally allowed, cannabis would offer a low cost option for physicians and patients.

Sources:

http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=374236 

http://realitycatcher-alapoet.blogspot.com/2009/01/maybe-this-is-how-war-on-marijuana-ends.html