Midstate district attorneys criticize medical marijuana letter

(Harrisburg) — District attorneys in the midstate are bristling at a state senator’s public letter about medical marijuana, andnot one could name a case when a DA brought charges against someone using the plant for therapeutic purposes.

Democratic state Senator Daylin Leach of Montgomery County sent the letter to the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association in late October, calling on each member to issue a statement saying they wouldn’t prosecute medical marijuana users.

Cumberland County DA David Freed calls it grandstanding.

“You have to remember, police and prosecutors, we use our discretion all day long, every day, and we don’t need the Daylin Leaches of the world to encourage us to use our discretion,” he says.

Freed, along with district attorneys in Berks, Dauphin and Lancaster counties, tell WITF News they have never seen a medical marijuana case.

“Maybe Senator Leach should spend some time working on the bill, and engaging in the legislative process with us. I think it’s absolutely grandstanding and calculated to generate publicity, which he’s done,” adds Freed.

All four district attorneys indicate they would take the totality of circumstances into account if such a case was ever presented to them, just as they do for every other case.

State Senator Leach says his letter is addressing a real fear.

“They should google people arrested for medical marijuana, and read about the hundreds of cases where people have been arrested and prosecuted for nothing more than having medicine,” says Leach.

As for the claims that this is grandstanding, Leach responds: “I wanted this to be a public thing where everyone knew about it and the district attorneys could say yes, I am not going to prosecute people, because what we’re asking for is a public declaration.”

But he could not name a medical marijuana conviction in Pennsylvania.

He attributes it to the way statistics are broken down.