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May 20, 2008

Plea deal ends possible test case on medical marijuana

SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- An Exeter man who was allowed to possess marijuana under the state’s medical marijuana law has admitted to drug possession in the first criminal case that would have tested the law had it gone to trial.

Steve Trimarco pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of possessing marijuana with intent to deliver in a plea agreement reached Friday in Washington County Superior Court.

Trimarco, 50, refused to surrender when the police arrived at his trailer at 480 South County Trail in 2006, but was taken into custody after three hours of negotiations, the police said. The next day, the police entered the trailer with a search warrant, seizing 71 marijuana plants, a homemade silencer and four guns, including a Chinese assault rifle.

Trimarco at the time held a registration card from the state authorizing him to grow 12 marijuana plants and possess 2 ½ ounces of the drug under the law enacted in January 2006 over Governor Carcieri’s objections.

Nineteen other charges, including contributing to the delinquency of a minor and possessing a silencer, were dismissed under the deal.

The Senate approved legislation Friday that would create "compassion centers" where chronically ill patients enrolled in the state’s medical marijuana program could openly purchase the drug. That bill has been referred to the House Health, Education and Welfare Committee, but an identical House-generated bill has been stalled in committee, said House spokesman Larry Berman.

-- Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 6:37 PM | Permalink

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