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Bridgeburner
Not spiritual at all.




Registered: 09/16/06
Posts: 20,010
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No Trial For Man Accused Of Serving 'Pot Cake' [PARADISE]
#8586617 - 07/02/08 02:07 AM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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A Paradise man was found incompetent to stand trial for allegations that he gave a cannabis-laced cake to unsuspecting brain injury support group members. He is in custody at the Butte County Jail.
Virgil Dean Hales, who has twice run for Town Council, faces felony charges of mingling a harmful substance with food or drink, which can carry up to a five-year prison sentence, Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said.
"This is more than a three-top felony," he said.
Wednesday, Hales will have a determination of placement hearing in which he'll likely be placed in a locked, maximum security, state mental hospital in Atascadero, Ramsey said. He was found incompetent for trial June 4. Hales has been in custody since May. No bail was set because he failed to appear in prior cases including trespassing at Paradise Alliance Church, which he was still in outpatient treatment for when the cake was baked, Ramsey said. He was also found incompetent to stand for the trespassing charges, Ramsey said.
"We have some doubt whether he'll come back because of his mental health," he said. "He's not a well person."
People at the brain injury support group allegedly ate the cake without knowing it contained marijuana. Two of them were hospitalized for medical symptoms they believed to be cardiovascular related, Ramsey said. Another person brought the cake home to a 92-year-old grandmother who complained of being light headed, Ramsey said.
"You don't do this to people with brain injuries who don't know they're being medicated with cake," he said. "That is a rather frightening symptomatology from cake."
The alleged incident happened Oct. 4, 2007. The Chico Police Department investigated the incident before it was reported to the DA's office in May. Roxanne Loget founded the brain injury support that meets in the Chico Public Library conference room from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. the first Thursday of the month.
After unknowingly eating the "laced cake," Loget went into a catatonic state and was taken to a Chico Emergency Room by friends who were driving her home after the group adjourned, Loget stated in an e-mail. Though the cake was delicious, the allergic reaction to THC, marijuana's active ingredient, was severe.
"Because I am, personally, so terribly allergic to THC, I was still under the influence 3 days later, couldn't even make a phone call for an entire week and didn't get anywhere close to being back-to-normal for, swear to God, three months," the e-mail stated. Toxicology from Enloe Medical Center confirmed her suspicion that THC was to blame for her condition, the email stated. Arline Beck's son has a brain injury, and Beck often attends the meetings as a caregiver.
"I really get a lot out of them," she said. "It's very beneficial, as a caregiver, to know what they're going through."
Loget asked Beck to bring Hales to the meeting because his car was broken. He brought the cake with him to the meeting, but didn't mention anything about marijuana being in the cake, Beck said. When Loget called to ask for Hales' ride, Loget warned Beck that he might talk her ear off about marijuana if she mentioned it, so Beck shied away from the topic, she said. The cake smelled normal, as far as Beck could tell, though she might not recognize the smell of marijuana, she said. Beck described the cake as a sheet cake 9 by 13 inches.
"I must admit it smelled delicious," she said. "It didn't smell like I thought marijuana smelled. It just smelled like a good old health cake I remember thinking, 'god that smells really good.'"
It wasn't until, on the ride home, that Hales told her about the laced cake, Beck said.
"I felt just terrible that that happened to them," Beck said. "These people are innocent people just trying to survive. To have this jerk come in and do that, I felt terrible."
Beck asked Hales if he put a sign on the cake to let people know, she said. Hales said he didn't, but that, "they all know me and they expect it," Beck said. Beck said she thought Hales was probably trying to be helpful.
"I don't think he thought it could be dangerous to other people," she said. "I have found out through this, that anything can alter their brain pattern. It really affected Roxanne."
Even though people knew Hales was an advocate for marijuana, most didn't know the cake came from him, because snacks were often shared by the group, but that tradition is no longer practiced because of the incident, Beck said.
"It's too bad, there were always good snacks."
The meeting's quality won't be affected and the incident won't happen again, Beck said.
"I don't think he's welcome to that group anymore," she said.
She and her son Mark will continue to support the group, she said.
"It's well worth the time to go down there," she said. 'It opens up a lot of doors to information as a caregiver."
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Coaster
BaĘżal



Registered: 05/22/06
Posts: 33,501
Loc: Deep in the Valley
Last seen: 12 years, 7 months
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Re: No Trial For Man Accused Of Serving 'Pot Cake' [PARADISE] [Re: Bridgeburner]
#8586637 - 07/02/08 02:23 AM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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ya i guess he shouldnt have dun that lawl
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Ophanim
The Molecule'sSpirit



Registered: 10/01/07
Posts: 1,002
Last seen: 6 years, 1 month
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Re: No Trial For Man Accused Of Serving 'Pot Cake' [PARADISE] [Re: Coaster]
#8587051 - 07/02/08 08:55 AM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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Ugh, that was a douche move... giving pot to the only type of person that should probably never touch it.
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HagbardCeline
Student-Teacher-Student-Teacher



Registered: 05/10/03
Posts: 10,028
Loc: Overjoyed, at the bottom ...
Last seen: 20 days, 20 hours
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Re: No Trial For Man Accused Of Serving 'Pot Cake' [PARADISE] [Re: Bridgeburner]
#8587056 - 07/02/08 08:57 AM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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I love how many times the article mentions how nice it smelled and that it tasted delicious. 
Seriously though, that's really fucked up to give anyone drugs without their knowledge, much less people with brain injuries. I can imagine that it was a pretty frightening experience. I ate brownies once that were made with an entire ounce and I thought I would never recover.
-------------------- I keep it real because I think it is important that a highly esteemed individual such as myself keep it real lest they experience the dreaded spontaneous non-existance of no longer keeping it real. - Hagbard Celine
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ExplosiveMango
HallucinogenusDigitallus


Registered: 07/12/05
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Last seen: 14 years, 6 months
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Re: No Trial For Man Accused Of Serving 'Pot Cake' [PARADISE] [Re: Bridgeburner]
#8587191 - 07/02/08 10:02 AM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
b0red5tiff said:
"Because I am, personally, so terribly allergic to THC, I was still under the influence 3 days later, couldn't even make a phone call for an entire week and didn't get anywhere close to being back-to-normal for, swear to God, three months," the e-mail stated. Toxicology from Enloe Medical Center confirmed her suspicion that THC was to blame for her condition, the email stated. Arline Beck's son has a brain injury, and Beck often attends the meetings as a caregiver.
Right... very believable, especially with that swear to god in there. Three month high, nice
-------------------- Know your self. Know your substance. Know your source. The most distorted perspective possible is the perspective that yours is not distorted.
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HagbardCeline
Student-Teacher-Student-Teacher



Registered: 05/10/03
Posts: 10,028
Loc: Overjoyed, at the bottom ...
Last seen: 20 days, 20 hours
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Re: No Trial For Man Accused Of Serving 'Pot Cake' [PARADISE] [Re: ExplosiveMango]
#8587279 - 07/02/08 10:35 AM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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I had always heard from people who smoke maybe a few times year say that they could still feel the effects of smoking weed up to several weeks later. Not that they were still high, but just that they felt different.
I always dismissed these claims - until I quit smoking myself. I went nearly 2 years without smoking, but when I did again, there was a definite change in the way I felt for 5-6 days. It was slight, it didn't bother me, but it was there.
It sounds hard to believe, but perhaps because of the brain injury she suffered, the meds she's taking, her personal physiology, or a combination of them all, she really felt that.
-------------------- I keep it real because I think it is important that a highly esteemed individual such as myself keep it real lest they experience the dreaded spontaneous non-existance of no longer keeping it real. - Hagbard Celine
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