Medicinal Pot Law a Can of Worms

Rex Dean Jones, a feisty 64-year-old retiree, says he never intended to pick a fight with the Police Department in this law-and-order town. But a fight is exactly what he got.

Two years ago Jones went to the police station with his wife, Lillian, 84, and told authorities he was growing marijuana in their backyard. He presented a doctor’s note and explained that under a 1996 state law he believed he was allowed to grow the drug for his medical use.

The next day Jones was arrested on suspicion of felony marijuana cultivation and his 14 pot plants were uprooted. Ventura County prosecutors later dropped charges after checking with Jones’ doctor and confirming he was a qualified medical marijuana patient.

Now, Jones is suing the Simi Valley Police Department for false arrest and recently became one of a handful of Californians ever reimbursed by an insurance company for seizure of marijuana plants.

Jones and his wife received a check in April for $6,850 from Farmers Insurance Group, which concluded the plants fell within the section of her homeowner’s policy that covers “trees, shrubs, plants and lawns.”

“It makes me feel that my rights are being upheld,” said Jones, who has a doctor’s recommendation to use marijuana to treat symptoms of diabetes, high blood pressure, skin cancer, back pains and migraines.

“Other people like myself have a right to do what they are doing without being hassled or harassed,” said Jones, who is back to growing his own marijuana. “Leave the senior citizens alone.”

Jones’ case is among the first of its kind to spin out of California’s medical marijuana law, which has been entangled in legal disputes for years.

Approved by voters in 1996, Proposition 215 allows seriously ill people to use, grow and obtain marijuana for medical purposes with a doctor’s recommendation.

But the measure runs contrary to federal law and is silent on how patients are to obtain the drug or how many plants they can grow for medical use.

The latest development came last week when a federal judge reversed his own 1998 order and ruled an Oakland cannabis buyers’ club could dispense marijuana to seriously ill patients.

Federal prosecutors had shut down six cannabis clubs in Northern California, saying the drug is illegal under U.S. law. When the Oakland club refused to close, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ordered it shut down.

The club appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which last fall found Breyer had not weighed the public’s interest.

At the same time, implementation of the state law has varied widely from one jurisdiction to another.

In San Francisco, the district attorney this month unveiled an identification card system that allows sick people with doctors’ notes access to marijuana.

While in Thousand Oaks, a cannabis club was shut down after the district attorney filed a lawsuit alleging the business was operating illegally and was a threat to public health.

“The whole thing is truly a can of worms at this point,” said Ventura County Deputy Dist. Atty. Bill Redmond, who dismissed the charges against Jones. “Should it be a county-by-county decision or should there be a set of directives from the state?”

State’s Lawmakers Steer Clear of Issue

So far, state legislators have steered clear of the issue.

Last year a group of police officers, medicinal marijuana advocates and doctors recommended the state establish a voluntary registry of patients to protect them from arrests. But the proposal went nowhere.

“I don’t see a widespread distribution,” said Andrea Nagy, former owner of the Ventura County Medical Cannabis Center, who fought unsuccessfully to keep her co-op open.

“It’s tough locally,” Nagy said. “If you’re seriously ill, you’d better live in the Bay Area.”

In the absence of firm guidelines, police have made arrests and seized plants in cases where they suspect individuals are cultivating marijuana for illegal sale instead of personal use.

Lisa and Craig Schwartz of Camarillo were arrested on suspicion of felony marijuana cultivation last year after the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department raided their home and seized 68 pot plants. Their case is still pending.

Marijuana advocates say insurance payouts may be one way qualified patients can recoup their losses from such seizures.

“The only reason it’s happening is that the police aren’t respecting their rights,” said San Francisco attorney J. David Nick, who is representing Jones in his civil case and Lisa Schwartz in her criminal case.

“People are desperate in order to make the politicians respond to the will of the people,” Nick said. “The hope is that when the insurance companies deal with enough claims that they will put pressure in the appropriate place in Sacramento.”

The first known reimbursement occurred eight months ago when a 71-year-old Northern California man, Robert DeArkland, received $6,500 from his insurance company after police seized 13 pot plants from his garage.

Nick, who has defended medical marijuana users across the state, said he knows of several claims that are pending as well as some that have been rejected.

Insurance regulators acknowledge that given the current state of the law, more claims can be expected.

“I wouldn’t consider two cases as a trend, but it is possibly the beginning of more to come,” said Mike Silva, deputy press secretary for the California Department of Insurance.

Reimbursement Claims Said Not Common

Farmers Insurance representatives said Jones’ claim was the first they have handled.

“I really don’t think it is very common,” said Kitty Miller, a Farmers spokeswoman who said such reimbursements are permissible if damaged pot plants are legal and covered by the policy.

While medical marijuana advocates argue that payouts from powerful insurance companies lend legitimacy to their efforts, Miller said her company isn’t influenced by politics.

“It simply means it is something under the law that was not covered before and is covered now,” Miller said. “We don’t have a position on it at all.”

In February 1999, Jones sued the Simi Valley Police Department, alleging officers had illegally arrested him and seized marijuana plants he was cultivating for medical use.

The suit is set for trial in Ventura County Superior Court on Tuesday. The city contends its officers acted appropriately given the state of the law at the time.

Jones filed his insurance claim a few months after filing the lawsuit, and while the reimbursement doesn’t come close to covering the loss of his plants--valued at between $3,000 and $4,000 per plant--he said it is rewarding nonetheless.

“I think for me it is the knowledge that I have the right to grow a herb for my own spiritual and physical well-being,” said Jones, a deeply religious man who describes himself as a street preacher.

“Hey,” he said, “I’m just a Simi Valley senior citizen standing up for my rights.”