Pohle

Michael Harold Pohle (defendant) appeals from a judgment imposing a misdemeanor sentence for possession of marijuana of which he had been found guilty in a non-jury trial.

A motion to dismiss under Penal Code section 1118.1, made at the conclusion of the People’s case in chief, had been denied.

The ground of the motion was that the evidence did not show possession of marijuana in a usable quantity.

Defendant defines the question raised on appeal as follows: “Was there sufficient evidence from which it could be reasonably inferred that the substance identified as marijuana had a narcotic potential; that is, was there a usable (or sufficient) amount of narcotic in this substance to produce a narcotic effect?”

The marijuana possessed by defendant weighed approximately 20.4 grams, a usable quantity in the opinion of an expert, who said the average marijuana cigarette contains approximately .3 of a gram of marijuana.

Section 11530 of the Health and Safety Code declares that “Every person who possesses any marijuana, except as otherwise provided by law, shall be punished” in the manner defined.

Health and Safety Code section 11003 defines Cannabis sativa as follows: “…