MAN TO FIGHT TO REGAIN MARIJUANA STASH, AGAIN

In what may be a first, the Kern County Sheriff's Department on Tuesday returned marijuana it seized in a raid.

But many hours later, sheriff's officials took back the weed.  Deputies came to Victor Allen Love's home a little after 10 p.m.  Tuesday night, he said, and confiscated six large bags of pot, which he had picked up that morning from the department's property room.

"Well, pop my bubble," he said in disappointment.

Love, who was acquitted by a jury of marijuana charges in February, has a doctor's recommendation for the drug, which he says he uses as medicine.

Last week, after numerous trips to court asking for his property and filing a $53,000 claim against the county, Love received a letter from the Sheriff's Department saying he could come pick up his marijuana at the property room in Bakersfield.

"I went to the right pile and stirred the right flies," said Love, 55.  "I'm sorry to say that's how it is."

But Sheriff Mack Wimbish said later that a mistake was made.  "It is an error in releasing the marijuana.  We should not be doing that," he said.

The sheriff said at the time he didn't know if the department would try to reclaim the bags of pot.

Love said he would talk to the judge at his next hearing to see if he can get the pot back.

Love, a leader of the local branch of the Church of Here and Now, was in a spry mood when he went to retrieve his weed earlier in the day, despite suffering from arthritis, gout and asthma.

"I haven't had any good medicine since they arrested me," he said.

Authorities believed Love was selling pot out of his Mountain Mesa home and arrested him last September on suspicion of cultivation and possession for sales.  They uprooted and seized more than a dozen plants from his backyard garden.

A jury acquitted Love of the charges, but authorities did not return the giant sacks of marijuana plants they took.

Love went to the property room Tuesday wearing his standard blue denim overalls and a big smile.

"This is something I never thought would happen," he said.

"I'm just happy to get my medicine back so we can live a fair quality of life," he said after loading the seven large bags into his vehicle.  He said most of it was unusable because of mold, but at least he got it back.

"Yes, it's in there," he said, smelling a piece he plucked off the plant.

He said living without his supply was difficult for him and his girlfriend, Deborah Peugh.

"I get in so much pain I want to cut my hands off.  I want to cut my feet off," he said recentlyat his home after tending to a freshly planted marijuana garden.

After Love beat the charges, he became a sort of go-to guy for other medicinal marijuana users in Kern.

"I felt like it was about time," he said of his acquittal.  "A big weight has been lifted off my shoulders."

Since then, Love hosted a "Weedstock" gathering of medicinal marijuana users and advocates and said dozens of people from all over the country have called seeking advice.

Bill Hause of Bodfish said he called Love when he saw an article about his acquittal.  Hause, who suffers from liver failure, recently moved from San Diego and wanted to know more about the local medicinal marijuana scene.  He said doctors told him that traditional prescription pain medications could cause him to fall into a coma, he said.

Love told him of a doctor he could see and about the laws.

"He was telling me we have patients' rights," Hause said.  "He's a pretty sharp guy.

"I don't think any patient should have to suffer some brutal assault by the Sheriff's Department," Hause added.  "I think that patients should be protected by the law, not hassled by the law."

Love had professed his innocence all along, saying that he did everything in his power to follow the law.  He had a current doctor's recommendation.  He put up signs in the yard that said he was growing marijuana for medical purposes and listed how much he was allowed under the law.

But he was thrown in jail because authorities believed he was selling it.

"It didn't seem to make a difference whether you follow the letter of the law or not," he said.

His doctor traveled from Northern California and testified that she gave Love and his girlfriend a written recommendation to use pot.  Marijuana charges against Peugh, who was arrested after Love, were dismissed following his acquittal.

Love has a formal court hearing set for next week, where he is seeking another box he said was not returned.  In the meantime, he said he wanted to make sure authorities were aware of the law.

"How can I be jailed if I follow the law?" he said.