South Carolina man charged with 'marijuana trafficking' for growing natural medicinal herb for his ailing wife

Wednesday, September 18, 2013 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: South Carolina, marijuana trafficking, natural medicine

(NaturalNews) The federal government's nonsensical "war on drugs" has obstructed yet another honest, sovereign American citizen from utilizing the many benefits of the natural marijuana plant for medicinal purposes, this time in South Carolina. As reported by TheState.com, 66-year-old Frank Dennis Peters from Bluffton was charged recently with "marijuana trafficking" for growing cannabis plants in his yard to treat his ailing wife.

Peters' wife, who suffers from severe fibromyalgia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, among various other debilitating conditions, has a difficult time eating and sleeping while taking her system-approved regimen of pharmaceutical drugs. These man-made poisons, as many NaturalNews readers are already well aware, cannot actually heal, and only cover up symptoms -- in this case, they were not even accomplishing this much.

Desperate for a legitimate solution, Peters decided to research the merits of medicinal marijuana, which he quickly learned could help his wife find real relief without harmful side effects. Not long after, with the approval of his understanding and compassionate neighbors, Peters bravely decided to plant the natural medicine in his backyard, violating the federal government's edict that marijuana is a "Schedule I" drug.

Peters and his roughly 137 backyard marijuana plants were doing just fine, causing no harm whatsoever, and Peters' wife was finding the relief she needed. That is until a visitor to one Peters' neighbor's homes ratted him out to authorities. According to reports, the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office, after learning that Peters had chosen to exercise his God-given right to grow and use marijuana to treat his sick wife, quickly swooped in and put a stop to it.

TheState.com reports that Peters has actually been charged with "marijuana trafficking," even though he was not really selling the plant or otherwise using it outside of his wife's treatments. Though he continues to cooperate with Sheriff's Office investigators, allowing them to collect the plants for "analysis," he insists that it is his duty to help his wife.

"I have a moral obligation to make my wife as comfortable as possible," Peters is quoted as saying to reporters.

Because of the large quantity of marijuana that Peters was growing in his yard, he could face a prison sentence, which means his wife will no longer have a caregiver. Peters is reportedly being given time to make arrangements for her care in his absence, but is working hard to make it known that his wife could die if not given the treatments she needs, which include marijuana.

Medical marijuana is actually legal in South Carolina, as long as the state distributes it (which it never has)

Interestingly enough, medicinal marijuana is actually legal in the state of South Carolina, and has been since 1980, which technically makes it the first state in the U.S. to have decriminalized the natural plant. A resolution passed at that time outlined that, as long as it is obtained directly from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), marijuana can be legally used within the state.

But to this day, DHEC has never distributed marijuana in any capacity, effectively rendering the law useless.

"Prohibition has finally run its course," wrote one obviously upset commenter on a Huffington Post report about the case. "Our prisons are full, our economy is in ruins, the lives and livelihoods of tens of millions of Americans have been destroyed or severely disrupted. What was once a shining beacon of liberty and prosperity has become a toxic, repressive, smoldering heap of hypocrisy and a gross affront to fundamental human decency."

You can help support the cause of bringing real marijuana reform to South Carolina so that innocent people like Peters do not continue to be prosecuted and jailed for their non-crimes by visiting:
http://www.mpp.org

Sources for this article include:

http://www.thestate.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com

http://www.islandpacket.com