Kelly

In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (CUA; Health & Saf. Code, § 11362.5). The CUA provides that a patient who possesses or cultivates marijuana for his or her personal medical purposes upon a doctor's recommendation is not liable for certain marijuana-related offenses. Although the CUA states that the marijuana possessed or cultivated must be for the patient's "personal medical purposes," the CUA does not place a numeric cap on how much marijuana a patient may possess or cultivate. The Legislature, however, thereafter enacted, without the voters' approval, Health and Safety Code section 11362.77. [1] That section caps the amount of marijuana a patient may have at eight ounces of dried marijuana and six mature or 12 immature marijuana plants, unless the patient has a doctor's recommendation that the specified quantity does not meet the patient's needs.

Defendant, appellant, and petitioner Patrick K. Kelly had a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana. But he did not have a doctor's recommendation to have more than eight ounces of dried marijuana. After getting a search warrant, law enforcement officers searched…