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.