 SACRAMENTO, CA -- Six years after a devastating DEA raid of her home and office, medical cannabis specialist Dr. Marion “Mollie” Fry has finally been brought to trial in U.S. District Court.
It’s the culmination of a long set of federal actions that involved everything from turncoat informants to the undercover infiltration of Mollie Fry’s medical practice. With the cooperation of local law enforcement, the investigation also implicated her attorney husband Dale Schafer, who stands at his wife’s side as her co-defendant. In the indictment against them, Mollie Fry and Dale Schafer were dubbed “major west coast drug dealers,” and charged with two felony counts: conspiracy to distribute marijuana and the manufacture of over 100 marijuana plants.
The turn of events has been a shock to Mollie Fry, who believed whole-heartedly in the legality of her activities. “I’m a California citizen and a California doctor, and I was following California law,” she said with exasperation right before the start of her trial. “I thought the federal issue was a gray area.”
Although legalized statewide by a California voter initiative, medical marijuana is not recognized by the federal government. As such, the defendants have been prevented from mounting a medical defense to their charges, and this situation places them in great legal peril. If found guilty, they face 40 years in prison and $2 million in fines, as well as the civil restrictions that accompany felony convictions.
But these are just the cold, hard facts of the trial.
The human side of this case is one of depth and intensity.
 Mollie Fry is a woman of decency, a mother of four whose heart is devoted to a quiet rural life of home and church and family.
Mollie Fry is a woman of strength, a survivor whose near-fatal battle with cancer left her without breasts but taught her a powerful lesson in the therapeutic value of cannabis.
Mollie Fry is a woman of courage, a medical doctor who has risked her own freedom to give her patients access to life-saving medicine.
And Mollie Fry is a woman of faith, a devout Catholic who believes in the ultimate triumph of good deeds and good intentions.
But the federal war on medical marijuana spares no one, not even the decent, the strong, the courageous and the faithful. And now this war has forced another two of our citizens into a desperate fight for their health, their freedom, and their rights.
Inside the court room at the U.S. vs. Dale Schafer and Dr. Mollie Fry medical cannabis trial - sketch by Dr. Care.
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An interview with the author, Vanessa Nelson is posted here: http://stash.norml.org/tag/cool-madness/ Sample chapters: |
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