67-year-old grandpa arrested, jailed for bringing medical marijuana to Texas for terminally-ill granddaughter



HOUSTON, Texas -- A California grandfather spent a night in jail after Texas troopers arrested him for having marijuana-laced cookies and some marijuana in his car. The man's out-of-state medical marijuana card didn't get him out of trouble.

If you're looking for a place to hide your green -- a green bag in the trunk of your car might not be your best option.

"I'm a grandpa. I never intended to offend the state of Texas," Phillip Blanton said.

67-year-old Blanton has been using medical marijuana in California for 10 years, so when he came to Texas to visit his terminally ill granddaughter Michaela he brought it with him -- and he brought along a little for her too.

"I'm a grandpa, so I'm thinking like a grandpa. I'm thinking 'I'm going to help my granddaughter.' I'm gonna give her some of 'Grandpa's cookies' and help her with her nausea and vomiting and the pain from the severe chemotherapy they had to give her," Blanton said.

Grandpa was pulled over outside Dallas.

"They told me 'we pull people over from California and from Colorado because they're always bringing in drugs in the state,'" Blanton said.

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers found four ounces of marijuana and a big bag of marijuana-laced cookies. They also found a gun -- but that was legal.

"I'm thinking, 'my God -- the gun is far more deadlier than marijuana in a cookie!' If you can respect my gun license why can't you respect my medical license?" Blanton said.

Blanton spend the night in jail before he was released on a $20,000 bond.

"And all of those guys fell in love with me cause I'm Grandpa and they took care of me while I was in there. 'Are you OK? You need anything?' And when I left, they all clapped for me when I left the jail. They did! They all hugged me and said 'you're our hero because you're doing this for your granddaughter,'" Blanton said.