P.

Juan Carlos Solis, Sinthia Martinez, and Rudy Lopez operated what purported to be a medical marijuana collective serving some 1,700 members. In defending against various marijuana charges, they invoked the defense provided by the Medical Marijuana Program (MMP) for qualified patients who associate to collectively or cooperatively cultivate medical marijuana. The defense does not apply, however, if the operation does not meet the definition of a “collective or cooperative” and marijuana has been sold for a profit. Here, all of the collective’s excess income—purportedly about $80,000 a year—was simply treated by Solis as his personal “salary” without any accountability or disclosure to the collective’s membership. Moreover, the collective was not registered as a nonprofit and appellants admitted purchasing marijuana from individuals who were not members of the collective. Because there was no evidence to raise a reasonable doubt whether the collective operated for profit or was otherwise lawful, the MMP defense did not apply.

Solis was convicted following a bench trial on three counts of possessing marijuana for sale (§ 11359) and a misdemeanor count of selling or…