PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Calling the state's medical-marijuana law "poorly drafted" and arguably in violation of federal law, the Rhode Island Supreme Court on Monday overturned a trial judge's decision dismissing drug-possession charges against two men who carried cards issued by the state giving them permission to use and grow the drug.
The high court, in reinstating the charges, did not say that Superior Court Judge Robert D. Krause had erred in throwing out the charges against patient Dean DeRobbio and caregiver Joseph Joubert.
But the justices said under the law, Krause first must conduct an evidentiary hearing that will require the defendants to prove that they have satisfied the elements of the law regarding the number of plants they possessed.