Man Agrees To Pot Charge

Sat., April 1, 2000

By John Craig johnc@spokesman.com

A Colville-area man has pleaded guilty to manufacturing marijuana even though he says he used the drug to relieve symptoms of his HIV infection.

Cecil Lotief, 34, said he pleaded guilty in Stevens County Superior Court because “at the time” he lacked the doctor’s recommendation required for medical use of marijuana.

As part of the plea bargain, Deputy Prosecutor Al Nielson agreed to recommend the three-month standard minimum jail term when Lotief is sentenced. Nielson also agreed not to appeal a shorter sentence.

When Lotief accepted responsibility for the 40 plants sheriff’s officers found at his home last year, Nielson dropped a marijuana-manufacturing charge against his brother, 28-year-old Christopher “Louis” Lotief, who was arrested at the same time.

Under the court-approved plea bargain, Cecil Lotief remains free pending sentencing and may continue using marijuana for AIDS if he complies with the provisions of voter-approved Initiative 692.

The 15-month-old law allows people with certain medical conditions, including AIDS-wasting syndrome, to use marijuana.

However, the law requires a doctor’s recommendation and limits patients to a 60-day supply. The measure doesn’t say how much pot constitutes a 60-day supply, and authorities around the state are still groping for an answer.

Barring an act of the Legislature or guidance from the state Department of Health, the court system will have to establish standards through medical testimony in individual cases. So far, no case has resulted in a precedent-setting Court of Appeals decision.

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