Man sentenced for growing marijuana to help ailing wife
♦ The Douglas DA says he is ‘surprised at the public outrage.’
Douglas County resident Randy Cooper was sentenced late last month on felony marijuana charges. Cooper was growing cannabis for medicinal use to help his ailing wife’s heart condition, but because cultivation was involved, he initially faced some prison time and a fine.
Cooper ultimately received 10 years of probation, 200 hours community service and a $5,000 fine. And he is a convicted felon for the rest of his life.
Formerly the City of Douglasville’s horticulturist, Cooper had been growing marijuana plants in his back yard, mixed among the corn and tomatoes to — on the advice of a friend — help his wife Barbara cope with an aneurysm on her aorta, until his arrest — complete with helicopter hovering over his house.
Some criticism surfaced regarding the apparent harshness of the sentence that was doled out to Cooper, who wasn’t seeking to grow or use the drug for any other purpose beyond helping his wife. Cooper spoke about his case by phone recently, and said prior to these events he had no criminal record, or even a speeding ticket.
Cooper said he was not seeking to distill the THC oil, but simply growing the plant “old school” for smoking, which was helping to lower his wife’s blood pressure, and succeeding where other prescribed medications had failed.
Thus far medicinal marijuana in Georgia has not been approved as medication for heart conditions, but a list of other conditions has. Recently, a state-mandated legislative committee began its work to propose a working model for the growing and distribution of THC oil in the state to patients who qualify. A comprehensive bill is expected in time for next year’s General Assembly and is garnering support.
But, at present, it’s still basically illegal to use or possess the drug.
In a prepared statement Douglas District Attorney Ryan Leonard said he was “surprised at the public outrage over the sentence Cooper received pursuant to his guilty plea . ... it appears that proponents of outright legalization are offended when any individual is prosecuted and convicted for a marijuana-related offense. However, I don’t have the luxury of functioning under a hypothetical set of laws. My office prosecutes violations of the law as written and we did so in Cooper’s case.”
Critics say they get that, but in Cooper’s case there were enough mitigating circumstances to, at least, soften the blow.
DawnRae Sealy-Leonard, whose mother’s chemotherapy in New Mexico was helped through a prescribed regimen involving cannabis products, is a friend of Randy, and she says that things that need to happen are taking too long.
“Times are not changing fast enough for those who are ill, in pain and need of relief. I would have done the same for my husband if he needed me to,” she said.