Judge William Burgess issued a legal memo, months after another judge told a defendant not to use her medical card.
In a rare move, a Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court judge issued a bench memorandum to his colleagues and lawyers advising that defendants on probation should not be prohibited from using medical marijuana.
The nonbinding legal statement from Judge William Burgess comes months after a Tampa Bay Times story about Pinellas County Judge Dorothy Vaccaro, who told a woman in her courtroom that she couldn’t use her medical marijuana card while on probation for a misdemeanor DUI charge. Vaccaro instead suggested the woman consider Xanax for her anxiety.
Burgess said Wednesday that his memo wasn’t a “direct reaction” to that incident but said it was meant as a “continuing conversation with lawyers in my division” as the issue of medical marijuana is discussed in courtrooms.
Citing previous case law, Burgess wrote in his Aug. 10 memorandum that a court cannot impose a special condition of probation that “effectively prohibits the defendant from participating in a state medical marijuana program.”
A court also “cannot require a defendant” to prove the reason that a doctor allowed use of medical marijuana, Burgess wrote. The judge pointed to a Florida statute that protects the use of medical marijuana when authorized by qualified physicians.
A Florida court can violate a person’s probation for breaking a law that is illegal on both the federal and state level, Burgess wrote. However, “it cannot revoke a defendant’s probation for conduct that is illegal under federal law but legal under state law.” Marijuana possession and use is still illegal at the federal level.
