GanjaGate update: all’s quiet on the reefer front

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Lest you think we’ve forgotten about GanjaGate, we haven’t. Buncombe County DA Ron Moore should have had a restful July Fourth, so maybe now he’s ready to decide whether to press charges against the local television news station for it’s role in the case of a local medical marijuana proponent.

In case you don’t remember: Cherub Charu did a sweeps TV story about this dude who said marijuana can help ease the pain of the sickly. The dude suffers from MS. Then they all but showed the dude smoking marijuana.

Then it turned out the dude was on probation for his conviction of threatening to kill a federal judge. Then the dude’s probabation officer, who saw the TV report, reported the dude for violating his probation for smoking marijuana.

Then there was a court hearing, in which Charu testified to the fact that she asked the dude to get some weed so they could show it on TV. Then the judge ruled the dude violated his probation and threw the dude back in prison. Then the federal prosecutor referred the case to the local DA for possible follow-up, state charges against the TV people.

The local TV folks have yet to report on the court hearing, their own reporter’s role in the court hearing, or the fact that the federal prosecutor referred the case to the local DA.