BAKERSFIELD: Man petitions for permits
Sheriff stopped issuing pot licenses due to raids
BY JASON KOTOWSKI, Californian staff writer
e-mail: jkotowski@bakersfield.com | Friday, Aug 10 2007 10:40 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Aug 10 2007 10:46 PM
A man with a troubled past has filed a petition asking the courts to force Sheriff Donny Youngblood to once again issue permits for medical marijuana dispensaries.
Photos:
The petition.
Richard Stephen Infante, who refers to himself as a doctor, filed a handwritten petition in Kern County Superior Court asking that Youngblood be compelled to follow state law and issue permits. Infante said he suffers from chronic neck pain and marijuana helps him deal with it.
Youngblood said Friday he is aware of Infante's petition dated July 26 but declined to respond, referring questions to County Counsel Bernard Barmann. Barmann could not be immediately reached at his office late Friday afternoon.
Youngblood has said federal law supersedes state law and he can't, in good conscience, give out licenses to people who he will later help the Drug Enforcement Administration bust. He has said he will continue to assist the DEA in raids of dispensaries.
While medical marijuana is legal under state law, federal law says it is illegal and pot shops can be busted at any time.
The state law does not designate who is supposed to issue medical marijuana dispensary permits, only that seriously ill people have access to marijuana if they have a doctor's recommendation. Barmann has said he will bring to the county Board of Supervisors on Aug. 21 a report on his investigation into what the county can do to abide by state law regarding medical marijuana.
Infante, who has a Shafter address, said the closure of pot dispensaries in Kern County -- currently none are operating -- has prevented him from obtaining high-quality marijuana. As a result, he has suffered severe pain, insomnia and weight loss, he said in his petition.
In 2004, Infante surrendered his license to practice medicine, according to records from the Medical Board of California. Infante could not be reached Friday evening for comment.
In 1998, Infante was accused of false billing and allowing unlicensed, untrained people to take medical histories from patients and perform different tests, state medical board records said. Infante underwent psychiatric evaluation that same year and was found to suffer from a severe personality disorder, the records say.
He also has been accused of prescribing and selling drugs including codeine and other narcotics without a medical indication for doing so, according to records.
All Kern County medical marijuana dispensaries closed in the wake of a July 16 DEA raid on Nature's Medicinal Cooperative in Oildale that resulted in five arrests, including the store's co-owners. Those arrested were each facing a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
No court date has been scheduled to address Infante's petition.
http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/210471.html
DaBronx
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