A 67-year-old California man is facing the possibility of spending years in prison after he was arrested with medical Marijuana in his car as he drove across Texas on is way to Houston to visit his granddaughter, who was battling Cancer.
Phillip Blanton had been driving for nearly 24 hours from California’s Central Valley when he was pulled over for going seven miles over the 70-mile-per hour speed limit on a highway outside of Dallas last month.
Blanton says when asked, he admitted to the officer that he had marijuana in his car -- about four ounces of medical marijuana and marijuana brownies -- recommended by a doctor for his chronic pain and that he was bringing to his ailing granddaughter.
Spent night in jail before seeing granddaughter
Medical marijuana is legal in California, as well as 27 other states, but not in Texas, so before making it to a Houston hospital where his 20-year-old granddaughter, Makayla Farley, was being treated for Stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphomama, Blanton was arrested on suspicion of felony possession of an illegal substance and taken off to jail.
I'm not a criminal," he told The Houston Chronicle. "I'm not looking to sell my drugs on the streets of Texas."
Facing possibility of years in prison
Regardless, now free on bail after spending a night in jail, Blanton is facing the possibility of decades in prison if charges are filed and if he’s eventually convicted. Wise County District Attorney Greg Lowery told The Chronicle last week that though prosecutors are still reviewing the case, if he is charged and convicted, Blanton could be sentenced to up to two years for the four ounces of marijuana and anywhere from five years to 99 years or life in prison for the marijuana brownies.
Meanwhile, in separate Facebook postings Blanton says his granddaughter is now cancer free, while he's vowing to fight the charges against him and won’t agree to a plea deal.
‘I'm not going to take a plea and I don't know how long of a struggle this will be or how much it's going to cost, but this case is about more than just me,” he said in a posting on Saturday. “I'm taking a stand for every family who is fighting the battle to be able to use medical marijuana for their issues.”
Blanton says he’s found an attorney to take his case, while a fundraising campaign has been set up on crowdfunding site YouCaring to help raise money for his legal defense.