Sheriff’s Officials Return Pot to Woman Arrested for Possession

MOORPARK —  For Sheriff Capt. Frank O’Hanlon, it was proof that “times are changing.”

Four days after deputies arrested Moorpark resident Jenny Lipson for growing a marijuana plant for what she said was treatment of constant migraine headaches and nausea, O’Hanlon returned the plant Tuesday and Lipson’s related paraphernalia.

Lipson greeted O’Hanlon with a tearful smile and a hug.

“In 20 years of law enforcement I never thought I would be returning marijuana, but times are changing,” O’Hanlon said as he left Lipson’s home.

O’Hanlon had the approval and support from the top of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department when he stood in Lipson’s open door, his right hand extended for a shake and his left hand clutching various pipes, matches and stash boxes.

In the last four days, Lipson had been taken to jail, strip-searched by female deputies and then released on $1,000 bail.

Sheriff Bob Brooks and O’Hanlon said they decided to return the plants and paraphernalia because of ambiguities created by the passage of Proposition 215 by California voters in 1996. That law made it legal for Californians who are ill to use small amounts of marijuana if they have doctor’s permission, which Lipson did not have.

They also considered Lipson’s time in jail before dropping the charges, Brooks said.

Arresting Lipson, Brooks said, was “technically appropriate” but not good judgment. Deputies should have just written her a citation and “put it through the system.”