Pubdate: Thu, 27 Oct 2005
Source: San Mateo County Times, The (CA)
Contact:  2005 ANG Newspapers
Website: http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/392
Author: Rebekah Gordon, Staff Writer
Cited: Safe Access Now http://safeaccessnow.net/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

COUNTY PROSECUTES POT CLUB

Belmont Dispensary Violated Proposition 215 Guidelines for Growing 
Medical Marijuana, Deputy District Attorney Says

ROB SIMMONS said he ran a medical marijuana dispensary out of his home
here for more than eight years to help the ailing feel better.

But today in court, the District Attorney will challenge that notion,
presenting evidence in a preliminary hearing to potentially charge
Simmons with two felonies for possession of marijuana for the purposes
of sale, and planting and cultivating marijuana illegally.

On May 3, the San Mateo County Narcotics Task Force
seized

59 plants from his apartment on Continentals Way, Cmdr. Mark Wyss
said. They allowed him to keep 12.

Simmons said what was taken constituted 1 to 3 pounds of usable drug.
One pound of marijuana can be used for about 450 rolled cigarettes.

"The government is trying to put people in jail that want to feel
better," Simmons said. "It just doesn't make any sense."

Not a Caregiver

To Deputy District Attorney Peter Lynch, it makes perfect
sense.

"Medical marijuana does not apply in this case," Lynch said. "He
wasn't complying with the framework set up by the medical marijuana
statute."

Under Prop. 215 passed by voters in 1996, qualified patients or their
primary caregiver can grow and possess marijuana for medicinal use.
State guidelines issued in January 2004 set the acceptable amount at
six mature or 12 immature plants and 8 ounces of marijuana, except
where a doctor or local governments authorize more; San Mateo County
hasn't.

Furthermore, the Board of Supervisors hasn't established guidelines
for dispensaries, leaving it to local jurisdictions. As a result,
there's no rule of law to follow other than that for caregivers under
Prop. 215.

"We don't believe there's any way he could claim to be the primary
caregiver," Lynch said.

"He's fairly vociferous in his claim in being able to do this," Lynch
added. "It doesn't matter. That's not what the law says."

In His Defense

Simmons said he is allowed to have the plants and has two doctor's
notes prescribing marijuana for a range of medical problems. He
described the drug as the "safest, most effective medicine I've found
on this planet."

He also said he has closely followed the spirit of state medicinal
marijuana laws in running his dispensary.

Earlier this year, Simmons was filmed selling marijuana to an
undercover reporter in an investigative series on KTVU-TV Channel 2.
The news segment explored the ease with which patients could obtain
doctor's notes for medicinal marijuana and make subsequent purchases.

His face was blurred in the broadcast, but it was nonetheless a boon
for his cause, he said. Many people figured out who he was but did not
understand that the undercover reporter had a medical note, which he
checked, he said.

"I've been really good with my intake procedures, making sure
everyone's a qualified patient," he said.

Chris Conrad, the president of the El Cerrito-based marijuana advocacy
group Safe Access Now and a court-qualified marijuana expert, said the
absence of dispensary laws may help Simmons.

Those who run dispensaries have been qualified as caregivers in other
cases when they've provided services beyond selling marijuana, such as
counseling or delivery, Conrad said. Simmons said he regularly made
deliveries.

"The idea of not having a policy creates more of an opportunity to
have a legal defense," Conrad said.

A Storied Past

Simmons, 26, was the first patient of his dispensary, called the Cal
Medical MJ Patients Association, but over time he said he served
hundreds. His was the only one in the county.

"Patients have been drastically neglected in this area," he said.
"This is probably the worst county for a medical marijuana patient to
live in in the whole state."

He said he has had medical problems his entire life, including
seizures, osteoarthritis, migraines, ulcers, and chronic pain from two
injury-related hip operations when he was a teenager.

His dealings have left him occasionally homeless, and he has been
evicted at least five times. Broke and evicted again after the May
raid, he is now living in a Belmont motel with his father.

This is not the first time Simmons has had trouble with the law, his
real estate sales license, issued in 1998, will be revoked by the
California Department of Real Estate on Nov. 18.

Court records show their decision is based on a July 2003 conviction
of trespass and resisting arrest in Santa Clara County, a conviction
of trespass in March 2000 at the Carlmont Shopping Center, and an Oct
1998 conviction for marijuana possession.

Enthralled, With a Cause

Travis Svensson, a psychiatrist, addiction specialist and assistant
clinical professor at the University of California in San Francisco,
has treated Simmons intermittently for the last four or five years.
Simmons has solicited doctor's notes from many providers, Svensson
said, including him.

"I've never known him not to present (himself) under the influence of
marijuana," Svensson said. "He's been a young man who loves his
marijuana and will do anything to continue to maintain an
uninterrupted supply of marijuana for himself."

But a 26-year-old San Mateo resident and long-time patron of Simmons'
dispensary, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of others knowing
about his marijuana treatment for stress, anxiety and arthritis, said
that Simmons' focus has always been in the right place.

"He's just all about the patient. Rob wasn't even looking at it for
the money," the patron said. "He continues to keep pushing for what he
believes in. You've got to give him a hands up for that."

Simmons has pleaded with the county to make local laws favorable to
medicinal marijuana patients and dispensaries, contacting John Conley,
the county's Deputy Public Health Director, the Board of Supervisors
and the Belmont City Council.

"Sick people have the right to feel better," Simmons said. "I don't
think it's fair what they're doing to me."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake