OAKLAND RAID TURNS UP POT AND PLENTY MORE

891 Plants Found In Hills Home, Police Say

Oakland -- A young couple was charged yesterday with numerous drug
violations for allegedly transforming their rented home in the posh
Montclair area of the Oakland hills into a marijuana-growing haven
with their son living there.

Jeremy A. Smith and his wife, Tina Suzanne Smith, both 23, kept 891
marijuana plants in the garage of their home at 6200 Westwood Way,
along with growing equipment, authorities said.

Oakland police also found $6,238 in cash, hallucinogenic
mushroom-growing kits, hashish and brass knuckles during the raid
Tuesday, records show. Police said drugs were found in the room where
the couple kept their 16-month-old son's crib.

Yesterday, Jeremy Smith put his arm around his wife as their
attorney, William Panzer of Oakland, entered not-guilty pleas on
their behalf before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Carlos
Ynostroza in Oakland.

The two were arraigned on charges of cultivating marijuana,
possession and possession for sale of marijuana, attempted
cultivation of psilocybin mushroom spores and possession of brass
knuckles. They are free after they each posted $40,000 bail Wednesday.

Outside court, Jeremy and Tina Smith denied any wrongdoing, saying
they sold marijuana for medicinal purposes only. "We're not violent
people," Jeremy Smith said. "We went out of our way to be legal."

But Alameda County Assistant District Attorney Russ Giuntini said
yesterday that the cash and the sheer number of plants found in the
home indicated that the two were selling the marijuana for profit.
The other drugs found in the home discredit their defense, he said.

"It's curious to me that someone who is offering help to people with
ailments would have psilocybin, which to my knowledge serves no
medicinal purpose," Giuntini said. "Maybe it must be that you have to
hallucinate your misery away."

When a shirtless Jeremy Smith answered the door to officers
responding to an anonymous tip, he had marijuana leaves sticking to
his chest, Giuntini said.

Giuntini said a handwritten note from a buyer was found on top of a
computer that was left as collateral for a $1,080 purchase of "30
pieces of honey bud."

The prosecutor said the couple could face charges of child
endangerment pending a continuing investigation. Tina Smith said her
son, Kody, was never in danger. He was taken to a foster home, then
released to his parents Wednesday.

Jeremy Smith said he uses medicinal marijuana for chronic asthma,
while his wife uses it to alleviate severe back pain.

Panzer, the co-author of Proposition 215, the 1996 voter-approved
measure that allows marijuana to be provided for medicinal use, also
attacked the case.

"The police have grossly overexaggerated the amount of plants in this
case, " Panzer said, noting some were clones. "We deny vehemently
that the patients are not qualified patients." He said the number of
plants fell under the limit allowed under Oakland law for each
patient.