Marine Veteran With PTSD Gets Justice and No Jail Time

Marine vet takes plea deal in PTSD pot bust
KSWO News
By Rhiannon Poolaw, Digital Producer
Friday, May 26th 2017

LAWTON, OK (KSWO)- Kristoffer Lewandowski, the Marine veteran charged with possession of multiple marijuana plants in Comanche County, has accepted a plea deal. The plea agreement with the Comanche County District Attorney's office resolves all pending charges filed against Lewandowski.

According to Thomas Hurley, the retired Marine's Oklahoma-based attorney, in the plea deal, Lewandowski, who served ten years in the U.S. Marine Corps deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and the waters off of Somalia, will serve no jail time and plead guilty to a deferred felony charge for marijuana cultivation. If he does not violate the law during a five-year period of probation, no felony will be placed on his record.

"Tens of thousands of people around the country who have remained steadfast in supporting Kris throughout this ordeal have shown we can make progress even in states like Oklahoma that have not yet recognized the many medical benefits of cannabis." Michael Minardi, a medical cannabis attorney based in Tampa, Florida who is serving as part of Lewandowski's trial team commented, "the decision by Oklahoma to go from seeking years of prison time to no jail time at all and just a deferred felony is a huge victory for all of us in this country who are fighting for medical cannabis patients' rights."

In 2012, he was diagnosed with severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following his service tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and, after a cocktail of 14 different pharmaceutical drugs proved ineffective for treating his PTSD, Lewandowski began using medical cannabis.
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