United States v. John Edward Schostag
Opinion
John Edward Schostag appeals the district court's 1 modification of his terms of his supervised release to include a standard condition explicitly prohibiting the use of medical marijuana. We affirm.
In December 2008, Schostag pleaded guilty to felon in possession of a firearm and attempted possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. He was sentenced to 120 months' imprisonment and 5 years' supervised release. Schostag began serving his supervised release in October 2015.
The terms of Schostag's supervised release require him to follow certain court-imposed conditions, including statutorily mandated conditions, standard conditions imposed across the district, and special conditions specifically tailored to his circumstances.
The mandatory conditions require Schostag to "not commit another federal, state or local crime," to "not unlawfully possess a controlled substance," and to "refrain from any unlawful use of a controlled substance." Standard Condition 7 states Schostag "shall not purchase, possess, use, distribute, or administer any controlled substance or paraphernalia related to any controlled substances, except as prescribed by a physician." Special Condition (a) states he "shall not commit any crimes, federal, state, or local." And, Special Condition (f) states he "shall take any prescribed medications as directed by his medical provider."
In 2014, the state of Minnesota began allowing physicians to prescribe certain forms of medical marijuana.
See
At a revocation hearing, Schostag admitted to using marijuana. However, Schostag argued he was following the orders of his physician, in compliance with Standard Condition 7 and Special Condition (f) of his supervised release. To clarify any confusion, the district court modified the terms of Schostag's supervised release to include the following special condition:
[t]he defendant shall not purchase, possess, use, distribute or administer marijuana or obtain or possess a medical marijuana card or prescription. This condition supersedes standard condition number 7 with respect to marijuana only.
Before applying the modification, the district court discussed the inherent challenges in pain management, noting "so many of the pain medications are highly narcotic and highly addictive." Accordingly, the court delayed imposing the modification for two weeks to allow Schostag to find alternative means to address his chronic pain and did not find Schostag in violation of his supervised release.
I. Standard of Review
Generally, "[d]istrict courts enjoy broad discretion in the imposition or modification of conditions for terms of supervised release, and we review only for abuse of discretion."
United States v. Davies
,
II. Discussion
On appeal Schostag argues the district court should have used its discretion under
As the district court noted, "the law is clear." The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) categorizes marijuana as a Schedule I drug with a "high potential for abuse, lack of any accepted medical use, and absence of any accepted safety for use in medically supervised treatment."
Gonzales v. Raich
,
Although some medical marijuana is legal in Minnesota as a matter of state law, the state's law conflicts with federal law. Where there is a conflict between federal and state law with respect to marijuana, "[t]he Supremacy Clause unambiguously provides ... federal law shall prevail."
Raich
,
We also determine the district court did not abuse its discretion in modifying Schostag's terms of supervised release to provide clarifying language accurately depicting federal law.
See
United States v. Weiland
,
Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the district court.
The Honorable Donovan W. Frank, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee v. John Edward SCHOSTAG, Defendant-Appellant
- Cited By
- 11 cases
- Status
- Published