Cannabis Club Founder Gets Six-Year Sentence
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ORANGE COUNTY — Despite impassioned pleas for leniency from advocates of medicinal marijuana use, a judge on Friday sentenced the founder of an Orange County cannabis club to six years in prison for selling and transporting the drug.
The case had focused attention on the issue of who is entitled to protection under Proposition 215, the state’s medicinal marijuana initiative passed two years ago.
Marvin Chavez Sr., who was convicted last November of selling marijuana to undercover officers and mailing the drug to a cancer patient, was taken into custody after the judge announced his decision.
The 45-year-old Garden Grove man, who said he uses marijuana to ease the pain of severe spinal arthritis, grimaced as he raised his arms to be shackled by deputy marshals.
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