CALAVERAS DEPUTIES' ETHICS QUESTIONED

Supervisors Told Medical Pot Being Targeted

SAN ANDREAS - Jay Smith says Calaveras County is waging a war against
medical marijuana and is doing so using unethical means.

Smith operates K Care Collective, a medical marijuana vendor. He and
several others involved in medical marijuana pleaded for help this
week from the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors.

Smith was arrested Jan. 4 on drug transportation and sales charges in
the Valley Oaks Center parking lot in Valley Springs. He told
supervisors he was tricked by a deputy who stole the identity of
Robert Shaffer, a medical marijuana user from Ione.

Shaffer tells the same story, and says Deputy Steve Avila of the
Calaveras County Sheriff's Department violated his privacy by using
the document in the sting operation.

"I also fear my identity is being used in another of Avila's illegal
ruses," Shaffer told the supervisors.

Dr. Philip A. Denney of Carmichael, who issued Shaffer's medical
marijuana recommendation, said his office received a call from Smith,
and that his staff confirmed that Shaffer had a valid medical
marijuana recommendation, not knowing that someone else was using
Shaffer's identity.

"It just smacks of entrapment and sleaziness to me. I think the cops
have better things to do," Denney said. "It was completely deceptive,
because they never did talk to me. They did not have Mr. Shaffer's
authorization for any of this."

At Smith's preliminary hearing May 10, Avila admitted during
questioning that he had used Shaffer's recommendation, although with
a falsified birth date, to persuade Smith to sell an officer
marijuana. Avila said that he obtained Shaffer's medical marijuana
recommendation "from an investigation we conducted," but also said he
did not recall which officer obtained it or how it was obtained.

Shaffer was arrested in November on felony marijuana transportation
and sales charges. Investigators said they found Shaffer through a
Craigslist advertisement for medical marijuana.

An affidavit by Calaveras County Sheriff's Deputy Brian Baker said
that he met Shaffer at the Subway sandwich shop in the Valley Oaks
Shopping Center in Valley Springs and purchased an ounce of marijuana for $350.

Baker presented Shaffer a false medical marijuana recommendation
bearing the name Thomas Baker. Baker reported that Shaffer did not
contact a doctor to verify the validity of the recommendation.

Shaffer pleaded guilty to sales and transportation of marijuana. He
is sentenced to report to jail June 14 to serve 135 days, and also
will serve three years on probation.

Smith's case appears likely to take longer. During a three-hour
preliminary hearing, Avila testified that Smith repeatedly declined
to sell him marijuana until Smith was able to confirm the validity of
the medical marijuana recommendation. A week later and after multiple
phone calls, Smith finally said he'd confirmed it with Denney's
office, and agreed to sell the officer, who he believed was Shaffer,
an ounce of "white widow" marijuana for $270.

Avila testified during the preliminary hearing that he believes it is
the first time Calaveras narcotics officers have used a real medical
marijuana recommendation for a real person during a drug sting.

A judge ruled that despite the evidence that Smith may have tried to
comply with medical marijuana laws, there was sufficient evidence
that a crime was committed to order him to stand trial on
transportation and sales charges.

Sheriff Dennis Downum said after Smith's appearance before the
supervisors that the Sheriff's Department has no beef with legitimate
medical marijuana users who follow the law.

"For you to provide medical marijuana to someone, there has to be a
caregiver relationship," Downum said. "You are totally outside the
guidelines when you are meeting somebody in a parking lot and selling
them drugs."

Downum noted that the District Attorney's Office reviewed the case
and is prosecuting it.

"They think everything the officer did was appropriate," he said.

Medical marijuana advocates, however, say laws passed since voters
approved the original Proposition 215 legalizing medical pot in 1996
have expanded the legal definition of legal providers to include
distribution through collectives and cooperatives.

Thomas Liberty of Calaveras Patient Resources, a group that advocates
on behalf of medical marijuana users, said efforts to open a
dispensary in San Andreas have been under way since 2005, the year
county officials created zoning to allow such a business.

But he said the Calaveras County Sheriff's Department has targeted
everyone who has tried to sell medical marijuana.

"In our county, things have gotten worse," Liberty said.

Downum said his deputies often cooperate with legitimate medical
marijuana users, and that many users even call to report that they
are growing marijuana for personal use. Downum said deputies can then
monitor the grow and destroy the surplus once the user harvests the
legally allowable amount.

"We are not in the business of chasing down medical marijuana users
or suppliers. But when one steps out of bounds and we find out about
it, we deal with it," Downum said.