NV judge orders drug offender write report on pot

[August 23, 2010]  GARDNVERVILLE, Nev. (AP) -- A Nevada judge has an unusual sentence for a 25-year-old Sacramento man who sold marijuana to a police informant in a casino parking lot at Lake Tahoe.

District Judge Dave Gamble ordered Matthew Palazzolo to write a report on what the judge called the "nonsensical character" of California's medical marijuana law.

Gamble gave Palazzolo 90 days to complete the paper discussing his realization that marijuana led him to use more powerful narcotics.

Palazzolo, who works for a Sacramento law firm, was arrested outside a Stateline casino in February after selling the informant a quarter-pound of pot for $1,060. Palazzolo said he grew it after using complaints of a sore back to get a California medical marijuana card. But he said the pot was for recreational use.

___

Information from: Gardnerville Record-Courier, http://www.recordcourier.com/

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.