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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D