Marijuana Activist Acquitted of Charges Stemming From Seed Sales

MARIJUANA July 1993

Imprisoned marijuana activist Pamela Snowhite Davis was acquitted June 10 of charges of selling viable marijuana seeds from her store in Carroll County, Maryland after a one-day non-jury trial (Eugene Meyer, "Marijuana Advocate Acquitted: Charges Stemmed From Seed Sales," Washington Post, 6/11/93, B4). Throughout the trial, several dozen protesters of the prosecution from D.C. Metro NORML and the Green Panthers! were in front of the courthouse providing moral support to Ms. Davis and her family and friends.

Davis, who was sentenced April 28 to two years imprisonment in an earlier case involving marijuana possession, sold sterile hemp seed from a store in Westminster, MD called Liberation. Sterile seed is widely and legally used in bird feed. Don Wirtshafter, an Ohio attorney and proprietor of The Ohio Hempery, Inc., which supplied the seed to Davis, testified about seed germination. He can be reached at 614-593-5826 for more information. Following his testimony, the Carroll County Circuit Court ruled that prosecutors failed to prove the seed was viable. In fact, after performing a superficial and non-scientific test, the government's expert threw away the evidence. Davis' trials have been rallying points for marijuana activists after police raided her farm in May 1992, seizing less than one ounce of marijuana. Soon after her acquittal, Davis was released on appeal bond while her conviction is being reviewed. Liberation is located at No. 9 Westminster Shopping Center, Westminster, MD 21157, Tel. 410-857-6484.