Drug War Against Patients Continues in Philo; Children Confiscated

This is the story of Lester "Smitty" Smith, 89, and his wife Mary, 79, of Philo and last Wednesday's marijuana raid on their home and the homes of their 2 granddaughters, their husbands and children. The adult grandchildren, Yolanda and Carla Mayberry, 31 and 29, and their husbands were hauled away by sheriff's deputies; CPA took all five kids.

There was apparently a neighbor's smell complaint that drew deputies to the Philo residence of the elderly couple who grew their own modest garden of 17 marijuana plants for medical use under their doctor's approval. Their granddaughters and husbands were growing a total of 74 plants for 3 people on an adjoining parcel, a combined total of 91 plants. They were in compliance with local guidelines of 25 plants per person (Measure G), which was the law in place when they planted their gardens in the spring before the June election.

Deputies illegally used Mendocino County civil nuisance ordinance 9.31 -- the 25 plants per parcel law -- to justify confiscating all their plants, leaving none as medicine for ill people. They explained that all three families exceeded the 25 plants per parcel limit, so they were taking it all. Plus they found the couple's life savings of $55,400 in cash and took that too, rather than bother with a messy arrest of the elderly couple.

All this havoc, disruption and suffering was over legitimate cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes: all 6 adults were Prop 215 approved.

"Smitty" and his wife Mary were at home Sept 24 around noon, when Sheriff's deputies and Child Protective Agency officers began arriving based on a complaint with a warrant in hand for one of the granddaughters. But they had to call in a request for separate parcel warrants on the elderly Smiths plus the 2nd granddaughter and her husband. Deputies evacuated everyone from their houses, forcing them to wait outside for five hours until the additional warrants arrived.

Once they gained legal entry into the Smith's house, it turns out deputies were more interested in robbing than arresting them, when they discovered $54,000 in cash and 2 family guns (revolver and rifle). Smith was smart to take his property receipt in the next day to reclaim his wrongly seized life savings and family heirlooms. He filled out forms claiming legitimacy for their life savings from his wife's inheritance and his own cashed in CDs. "When the Wall Street thing hit, I put money in a safe."

I asked him to describe the experience. "They turned everything upside down on me. They charged in here all of a sudden and went nuts. They said I couldn't have two gardens on one parcel. I had 17 plants for me and Mary. That's too many? They took my pot and all my life savings. They took my gun. I'm not a terrorist. They left us outside and wouldn't let me go in the house and check on my wife. She's ill, stays in her wheelchair or recliner most of the time. She has congestive heart failure, osteoporosis, arthritis and some other health problems. They took Mary's tea buds. That's what really upset her. They took all my granddaughter's kids and told one sister to move away from the other one because they thought she was a bad influence. I've never seen such a bunch."

I asked Yolanda, 31, the oldest sister, about her take on the raid. "They were unjustified coming in my house, taking my kids. We were charged with cultivation and cultivation for sale. But our marijuana is legal. I'm a caregiver for my husband. My sister and her husband are medical. They had a warrant for my sister's house, not mine, not Grampa's. They took Grampa's life savings. They scared me and coerced a false confession. They told me a lie: that Grampa had told them I'd sold some of his marijuana for $500. I didn't want to contradict what they said he said and get him in trouble so I told them I did. I was crying, sick, throwing up. I'm very upset. I feel they came in here and took our lives away from us."

I asked Yolanda how it unfolded. "Me and my sister were at the house. The cops show up. CPS asks about my sister, saw my husband's garden and my sister's and her husband's. We had five gardens total, 91 plants total. We thought we were allowed 25 plants per garden. That's what they used against us. They said we could have only 25 plants per parcel. Grampa has two parcels so they took everything. We waited all those hours for the warrants to arrive. At the end, when they finally arrived, they arrested our husbands and brought me and my sister off to the side. We thought they were going to tell us what was happening. We had no idea they would arrest us too. They threw us in the back (of the patrol car). CPS took our kids in a separate vehicle."

There was apparently a separate CPS complaint as well, based on things Carla's 7-year old boy is supposed to have said. There is always the kiddie bugaboo, which creeps into every case where a justification for separating families is needed.

Yolanda explained, "It's her littlest son's mouth. We hear he's supposed to have made up stories that he helped trim, that he smoked it, that our dogs and horses smoked it. This is a seven-year old with a wild imagination, give me a break. We make it so our kids never touch it. It's in a separate area. My sister is a good mother."

I am grateful to Karen Ottoboni for bringing this situation to my attention. Her comment, "We can't let this happen to our 90 year olds" says it all.