HOLDING FIRM ON RIGHT TO POT

Marijuana: A Simi Valley man is suing police for pulling up his plants. The
1996 state law allowing use by sick people is generating court fights and
even insurance claims.

SIMI VALLEY--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 with 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 back yard. 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 the charges after checking with Jones' doctor and confirming
that he was a qualified medical marijuana patient.

Now Jones is suing the Simi Valley Police Department for false arrest. He
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 that 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 that 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 that 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.

But in Thousand Oaks, a cannabis club was shut down after the district
attorney filed a lawsuit alleging that 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 dropped the charges against Jones.
"Should it be a county-by-county decision or should there be a set of
directives from the state?"

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

Last year, a group of police officers, medicinal marijuana advocates and
doctors recommended that 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 cooperative 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 officers have
made arrests and seized plants in cases where they suspect people are
cultivating marijuana for illegal sale instead of personal use.

A Camarillo couple, Lisa and Craig Schwartz, were arrested on felony
marijuana cultivation charges last year after the Ventura County Sheriff's
Department raided their home and seized 68 pot plants. Their case is
pending.

Marijuana advocates say insurance payouts may be one way that 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, 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 and some that have been rejected.

Insurance regulators acknowledge that, given the current state of the law,
more claims are likely.

"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.

Farmers Insurance representatives said Jones' claim was the first they've
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 politics has nothing
to do with it.

"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
that officers illegally arrested him and seized marijuana plants he was
cultivating for medical use.

The suit is set for trial in Ventura County Superior Court next week. The
city contends that 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
although the reimbursement doesn't come close to covering the loss of his
plants--valued at between $3,000 and $4,000 each--he said it is rewarding
nonetheless.

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

"Hey," he said, "I'm just a Simi Valley senior citizen standing up for my
rights."