Redding Physician Suspected Of Illegally Prescribing Drug Drug agents raided a Redding doctor's clinic for evidence he illegally treated drug addicts and may be investigating whether his practice contributed to five deaths. J. Gregory White, 54, opened Shasta Immediate Care more than a year ago. The medical doctor of 26 years specializes in pain treatment using methadone, he said at his office Thursday. Shasta Interagency Narcotics Task Force (SINTF) agents served a search warrant on White's Rosaline Avenue business Wednesday, combing it for 12 hours and seizing 62 bottles of methadone tablets, White's prescription slips and more than 100 patients' files, Cmdr. Ed Pecis said. [continues 660 words]
The north state has a new weapon in the fight against methamphetamine "super labs" that are creeping ever northward, Shasta County District Attorney McGregor Scott said Tuesday. Scott announced the opening of a Redding-based Drug Enforcement Administration office Tuesday. An undercover drug agent has been working for about three weeks with local sheriffs, police and other agencies, and is expected to be joined within a month by a second federal agent, he said. Scott had a simple message for those who make and traffic meth in the north state: [continues 145 words]
A medical marijuana patient - who Redding police once returned marijuana to - - has since been charged in one of the first alleged violations of Shasta County's pot growing guidelines. Dan Craig, 51, of Redding is a Vietnam veteran who said he uses the drug to treat post-traumatic stress. On Oct. 7, Shasta County Marijuana Eradication Team members found 11 marijuana plants growing in his back yard - nine more than the two outdoor plants allowed under Shasta County's guidelines, enacted Feb. 28 by the district attorney's office and other Shasta County law enforcement agencies. [continues 566 words]
Facing accusations of "prosecutorial misconduct," Shasta County District Attorney McGregor Scott has been ordered to take the witness stand in a seven-defendant case stemming from a drug raid at the Anderson Oaks Apartments. In Shasta County Superior Court on Wednesday, Redding defense attorney William Malloy said he has never before had to subpoena the county's top prosecutor. Judge William Gallagher and other attorneys in the case agreed both sides' accusations against each other are unusually serious. "I've read a lot of papers that say some very bad things have occurred," Gallagher told the nine attorneys present. "But I'm not going to say that just because someone wrote it down that it's true." [continues 492 words]
Redding Attorney Arrested As Officers Search Client's Home Redding attorney Franklin Cibula may ask state prosecutors to investigate what he calls an "attack" on him by police officers, who arrested him after he went to a client's home to stop a search. Police Chief Bob Blankenship said Thursday the 59-year-old lawyer was "allegedly intoxicated" when he "allegedly pushed an officer" Monday at the Court Street address near Grandview Avenue. Police arrested Cibula on suspicion of battery on a peace officer -- Steve W. Davis -- and resisting an officer. He was released late Monday on his own recognizance from the Shasta County Jail, sheriff's Capt. Larry Jarrett said. [continues 683 words]
A Redding mother and son expecting to have their medicinal marijuana conviction overturned Friday were sentenced to jail and probation time instead. They immediately filed a motion to appeal their case. James Hall, 39, and his mother, Lydia Hall, 62, were found guilty in February by a jury of conspiracy to cultivate marijuana. The jury acquitted them of growing marijuana and absolved Jim Hall of growing marijuana for sale. On Friday, Shasta County Superior Court Judge Bradley Boeckman sentenced Jim Hall to 75 days in Shasta County Jail. Lydia Hall will serve no more jail time; she has previously served the single day she was sentenced to. [continues 563 words]
A Trinity County judge has been appointed to rule whether Shasta County Sheriff Jim Pope was in contempt of court for failing to obey a court order to return marijuana plants to their owner. The state Judicial Council has assigned Judge John K. Letton to review the contempt of court petition against the sheriff, Court Administrator Donna Regnani said Friday. The petition was filed Feb. 3 after Pope turned over 1 pounds of processed marijuana to a federal agent instead of to Richard Levin, 49, of Redding, who was acquitted in December of marijuana cultivation for sale. Levin's attorney, Eric Berg of Redding, successfully argued that he used the drug medicinally, to treat back pain and hepatitis C. [continues 232 words]
Conflicting state and federal laws about marijuana, a lack of clinical research on the drug and threats to their livelihoods make most doctors unwilling to recommend its medical use. Dr. Tod Mikuriya of Berkeley, who signed the doctor's note approving marijuana use for Redding's Richard Levin, is one exception. He said he has been investigated by the California Medical Board for years; and although he's never been criminally charged, he fears prosecution. "It's kind of like being put on the enemy's hit list, and targeting yourself for the roving band of persecutors," he said. [continues 466 words]
Marijuana Eases Pain, Causes Legal Headaches Every few hours, usually in the privacy of his garage, Richard Levin takes a long drag off a joint. He has his doctor's approval to smoke marijuana, and says the drug relaxes muscles in his injury-torn back and eases the pain of Hepatitis C, a virus that attacks the liver. Levin, 49, of Redding and other medicinal marijuana patients who say daily smoking has freed them from senseless days spent strung out on prescription medication. Or living their lives confined to a bed, their bodies too warped with pain and muscle spasms to move. Life is better, they say, with marijuana. [continues 1983 words]
Jury Selection Begins Today A month after one medicinal marijuana patient's acquittal, a Redding mother and son facing similar charges of drug possession will meet their prospective jurors today in Shasta County Superior Court. Jim Hall, 38, and Lydia Hall, 62, of Redding have recommendations from their doctors approving the use of marijuana to treat their ailments, Jim Hall said. He suffers chronic pain from a 1993 back injury and subsequent surgery; his mother uses pot to treat her glaucoma because conventional medicine gives her blinding migraines, her son said. [continues 580 words]
Opening Arguments Begin In Case For Redding Man A jury learned Thursday that it must decide whether a Redding man's marijuana supply and backyard crop were his medicine or his illegal enterprise. Opening arguments began Thursday in the criminal case against Richard Levin, 49, whose attorney said he smokes marijuana to treat pain from a 1993 third-story fall and four subsequent back surgeries. But Shasta County Deputy District Attorney Laura Sheehy said the 41 young plants Levin was growing in his back yard "far exceeded" the amount one patient would need for personal use. [continues 349 words]
A Redding couple discreetly growing marijuana in their back yard have found themselves the north state's spokespeople for medical marijuana use since their arrest in 1998 for drug possession. But now, husband Richard Levin isn't doing much talking. The 49-year-old, who suffers from hepatitis C and a missing vertebra, is about to begin a trial based on a doctor's note - or lack thereof. He is charged with cultivation and possession for sale pot. Shasta county prosecutor Laura Sheehy requested Thursday to add an enhancement that Levin was in possession of eight firearms at the time of his arrest. [continues 535 words]
