People v. Bloom

DUNN, J.

Appeal by defendant from an order granting him probation following conviction of possessing marijuana in Adulation of Health and Safety.Code, section 11530, a felony. (Defendant purports to appeal from the “judgment of conviction,” but there was none since the court suspended pronouncement of judgment and ordered defendant placed on probation. The order, as such, is appealable. Penal Code, section 1237, subdivision 1; People v.

Kraps

(1965) 238 Cal.App.2d 675, 676 [48 Cal.Rptr. 89].)

The appeal is on two grounds: (a) that appellant’s admissions and the contraband were products of an unlawful detention and (b) that Health and Safety Code, section 11530 is unconstitutional.

The second contention is the first here discussed. Citing no authority, appellant claims the possession statute is against the due. process and equal protection clauses of the federal and California Constitutions and also against their prohibitions of cruel and unjust punishment. He admits similar attacks in this state and elsewhere have been unsuccessful. To bolster this feckless argument he invites our attention to the views of an eastern trial judge who, in an article appearing in a popular monthly magazine, contrasts society’s views on tobacco and alcohol, as he sees them, with its views on marijuana. We disposé of the point by citing:

People

v.

Quilon

(1966) 245 Cal.App.2d 624, 629 [54 Cal.Rptr. 294],

People

v.

Marsden

(1965) 234 Cal.App.2d 796, 798 [44 Cal.Rptr. 728] and

People

v. Widener (1963) 220 Cal.App.2d 826, 830 [34 Cal.Rptr. 130]. With the views therein expressed, we agree.

As to appellant’s first contention, the pertinent facts are simple enough. On February 2, 1968, police officer Malmquist of the Morro Bay Police Department received a report that suspicious juveniles were hitchhiking on Quintana Road. About 5:30 p.m., in the eA^ening but still daylight, he saw appellant Bloom with eodefendant Johnson walking southbound on the east side of Quintana Road just south of Kennedy Way, and just across the street from a large bank—• shopping center which was set back some distance from the