Pubdate: Sat, 24 Mar 2001
Source: Red Bluff Daily News (CA)
Copyright: 2001 Red Bluff Daily News
Contact:  P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080
Feedback: http://redbluffdailynews.com/opinion/
Website: http://redbluffdailynews.com/
Author: Jack Moran

MARIJUANA CLAIM LAWYER; REJECTION IS "GOOD NEWS'

An Oakland attorney representing a Red Bluff woman with a medical marijuana 
certificate who was arrested last year and charged with unlawful 
cultivation thinks it's "good news" Tehama County Supervisors have rejected 
his client's police harassment claim.

"This is good news because now I can go ahead and file" a lawsuit, said 
attorney William Simpich.

Simpich represents Dannette Hooker, 24, who was arrested last September at 
her Red Bluff home and charged with cultivating marijuana. Hooker spent the 
night in jail but was released the next day on her own recognizance.

The district attorney's office dismissed all charges against Hooker in 
December.

Simpich said Hooker, and all medical marijuana patients residing in Tehama 
County "are being discriminated against by the Tehama County policy toward 
the enforcement" of the law passed in 1996 by California voters that allows 
seriously ill patients to use marijuana in order to ease their pain.

"It's not fair to abuse people unfairly," said Simpich.

Also seeking payment from Tehama County and the City of Red Bluff are Donna 
Marie Merritt, another medical marijuana patient who lives with Hooker, and 
Dr. Tod Mikuriya, a Berkeley physician known across the state as a doctor 
willing to give people recommendations for medical marijuana use.

All three claimants had asked for $400,000 each in damages before the claim 
was rejected.

While Merritt and Hooker each had three plants growing in a backyard garden 
when Red Bluff police came knocking at their door last Sept. 28, only 
Hooker was arrested.

"I kind of think police are gunning for Dr. Tod," Simpich said. "He's doing 
God's work. If you're seriously ill and the doctor thinks marijuana can do 
you some good, he'll recommend it and that's all there is to it.

"Why was one arrested and not the other?," Simpich said. "Both of them are 
patients and they had the same amount of pot, but one has Dr. Tod while the 
other received her recommendation from a different doctor."

Simpich said the state medical board has been "conducting a witch hunt" 
against Mikiyura for more than one year, but so far have not found any 
evidence that warrants the revocation of his license to practice.

Simpich said another possible reason why Hooker was singled out is because 
one year ago, she and six other Tehama County residents filed a similar 
claim against the county accusing the sheriff's department of conducting 
improper investigations and falsely arresting medical marijuana patients. 
Supervisors rejected that claim as well.

Simpich said he has not yet filed a lawsuit in the first matter because he 
wanted to see how the board would treat Hooker's latest claim.

"Now, it's time to move forward with both of these cases," he said.
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