MEDICAL MARIJUANA CLAIM IN DOUBT

How much medicinal marijuana someone can have legally has never been
clearly defined.

But Modesto police say 150 plants appears to be too much.

Kenneth Beams, 43, of Modesto was arrested Wednesday after the
Modesto Narcotics Enforcement Team discovered his garage and back
yard loaded with marijuana plants, Sgt. Tim David said.

Beams, who was charged with marijuana cultivation and child
endangerment, claims that he grew the plants to treat an array of
illnesses.

He furnished a letter from a Modesto doctor that Beams said gives him
permission to grow and smoke marijuana.

But Beams' story simply does not add up, David said.

For one thing, Beams claimed that he smoked 2 ounces a week, or 6
pounds a year.

But David estimated that Beams' mature plants could produce about 25
pounds a year.

"We didn't find any large amounts (of smokable marijuana) in the
house," David said. "It's got to be going somewhere."

Also, Beams has been collecting disability for seven years because of
knee injuries.

But during their surveillance, investigators watched Beams come home
from riding dirt bikes with his children, David said. His arm was
skinned up from a fall during the outing.

"Here's a guy with so much chronic pain, yet he can go out and ride
dirt bikes with his kids," David said.

Beams said he suffers from chronic knee problems and nerve injuries
in his neck and elbow caused from bone spurs.

He also said he recently got over meningitis and has been treated for
depression and agoraphobia -- the fear of being in open or public
places.

He said pain pills make him pass out, which would make it impossible
to watch his 2-year-old son during the day while his wife is at work.

"With the multiple injuries and surgeries I've had, medicinal
marijuana relaxes my body and helps me deal with my pain," said
Beams, who said he is being treated by five doctors. "I'm not
pain-free, but it helps me deal with it."

Police began watching Beams' house recently after an informant's tip
that Beams was selling marijuana, David said.

Officers obtained a search warrant Wednesday.

Inside the house, officers reported finding about 150 plants. There
were 44 plants 4 to 6 feet tall, and 100 more less than 5 inches tall.

Also, agents found five plants being dried in the garage.

Beams, who posted bond Wednesday night, was charged with child
endangerment because a pipe and an ashtray full of partly smoked
marijuana cigarettes were found within reach of his sons, ages 2 and
7.

The children were taken by Child Protective Services and tested at
Doctors Medical Center to check for marijuana in their systems.
Later, they were returned home.