April 23, 1998

By Maria Alicia Guara,
Chronicle Staff Writer

(Ed. note: It is morally absurd to leave running the medical marijuana movement to the sick and dying.

There is agreat story from the Holacaust. Two death camp inmates were whispering to one another. The first laments, "Where is God? The second responds, "Where is Man?"

Where is Man in America when we leave the most vulnerable members of our society to the mercy of the merciless. We do not face any risk in standing up for them. At least a coward cowers out of fear.)
See
Problems At Two California Clubs Demonstrate The Cruelty of Leaving Sick and Dying To Fend For Themselves

LEGAL HASSLES EXTINGUISHING POT CLUBS

Prop. 215’s weak wording doesn’t sway cops, agents

Less than 18 months after medical marijuana use was legalized in California by Proposition 215, the network of marijuana clubs, co-ops and dispensaries that arose to deliver pot to patients is collapsing.

Of 18 medical marijuana providers operating openly seven months ago, six are out of business and five are facing closure due to criminal or civil lawsuits. The remaining seven groups are still open and not facing legal trouble, but there is constant worry that the next knock on the door could be federal drug agents.

"In general, things statewide are a mess," said Scott Imler, director of the Los Angeles Cannabis Buyers’ Club in West Hollywood. "We’re the only club still standing here in Southern California. Of course we’re worried. It’s all kind of folding in on itself, one layer after another."

Even in the Bay Area, where liberal local governments have allowed some clubs wide latitude and political support, legal challenges from the state and federal government have the potential to force the whole movement back underground.

This week in San Francisco, Dennis Peron’s Cannabis Cultivators Club was closed by order of a Superior Court judge, only to reopen a day later— under a new name—with the blessing of local officials. Political support for medical marijuana has been less evident in San Jose, where dispensary owner Peter Baez was recently raided by local police and charged with nine felony counts of selling pot.

In Southern California, the options for sick people who use marijuana have never been plentiful. Local law enforcement and city officials in many areas have adamantly opposed organized efforts to distribute pot.

The mood at Imler’s club has become increasingly nervous as clubs in Santa Ana, San Diego and Thousand Oaks have been closed, their organizers facing jail time or civil fines.

CIVIL LAWSUIT FILED

In Northern California, where the clubs have been most numerous, six groups have been named in a civil lawsuit by the federal government, and two—

"I worry about it every day, the possibility of being dragged out of my bed by narcotics agents," said Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative, one of the groups named in the federal lawsuit. "I’m like a sitting duck in a pond. But I’m going to sit here to the end. We have to get the medicine out to the patients."

The recent spate of prosecutions has taken many medical marijuana advocates by surprise. Just seven months ago, marijuana providers held an upbeat summit in Santa Cruz to create standards and goals for the dispensaries.

"The high mark of the community-based club movement was probably in October," when dozens of activists gathered for a weekend retreat, Imler said. "But three days after the conference ended, the busts started, and it’s been one after another after another.

"There’s not going to be much of a conference this year," he said.

Imler and many other club volunteers across the state believe the backlash against medical marijuana has been encouraged by state Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Dan Lungren, who has challenged the legality of the clubs with a lawsuit against the San Francisco club, the state’s largest.

FEDERAL OPPOSITION

Federal drug enforcement officials are also fighting Proposition 215, arguing in court that marijuana use for any purpose is a violation of federal law.

Law enforcement officials say the crackdown is the result of a poorly drafted law and of pot sellers who don’t understand what the law allows.

But the blame for the chaos may also rest with California’s lawmakers, who have shoved the controversy into the court system by refusing to straighten out an incomplete and contradictory—albeit popular -law.

Proposition 215, a voter initiative approved in November 1996, allows sick people to grow and use marijuana if a doctor recommends it. It also allows caretakers of sick people to obtain or grow marijuana for them. But 215 did not legalize the sale of marijuana, nor did it make it legal to transport marijuana from one place to another.

The authors of 215 foresaw the need for legislative tinkering when they added a clause "encouraging" the state and federal government "to implement a plan to provide for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all patients in medical need of marijuana."

That "encouragement" has not yet resulted in legislative action. The only legislator who has consistently worked to turn 215 into a workable law is State Senator John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, a longtime medical marijuana advocate—and his efforts have so far been rebuffed by fellow lawmakers.

"It’s true, the Legislature hasn’t done anything, and as far as I can detect there is no interest other than on the part of me and a couple of others," Vasconcellos said. "It’s disgraceful."

FIRST CLUBS FORMED

In the euphoria that followed the passage of Proposition 215, many small pot clubs and co-ops sprang up, most of them founded by people with compelling personal stories. Many had used marijuana surreptitiously for years, while others had nursed loved ones through painful illnesses.

Some clubs that had operated for years underground came gratefully into the open.

But without clear guidelines, every group created its own rules and bylaws. In some cases, the limits of Proposition 215 were ignored for practical purposes. In others the law was creatively interpreted.

But in many—probably most—California counties, law enforcement officials have frowned on a liberal application of the law.

In conservative Orange County, Deputy District Attorney Carl Armbrust repeatedly charged Martin Chavez, the founder of a Santa Ana pot co-op, for criminal sales of marijuana.

"You are not allowed to sell marijuana under Proposition 215," Armbrust said. "So now they say the law isn’t well written, and they think they should be able to sell and transport it. But we can’t twist the law. And we sure didn’t write it."

Anyone else smoking pot in public faces a $100 fine.
(Ed. note: In other words, they will punish the sick and dying more severely for medical use than the healthy for recreational use. This clearly demonstrates my point that the suppression of medical marijuana is the highest priority of the prohibitionists.)

"It is clear that any kind of dispensary is outside the scope of Proposition 215," said Dale Kitching, supervisor of the major narcotics unit for the Sacramento District Attorney’s office.

"Those political officials who allow sales and clubs have gone way beyond any reasonable interpretation of the law. (Sick people) who smoke their marijuana quietly and covertly are acting in everybody’s best interests."

NO ORGANIZED LOBBY

Some attempts were made to organize the clubs politically, but most club operators were too busy dealing with with their businesses and medical conditions to consider hiring a lobbyist. So when the arrests began, there was little organized opposition.

"We were unprepared for the backlash," Jones said. "We didn’t have support or funding, and the prosecutions are killing us. We’re going broke."

According to Vasconcellos’ chief of staff, Rand Martin, the clubs were easy to divide and conquer.

"They were very easy to pick off because all of them are basically breaking the law," Martin said. "They may be doing the angels’ work, but in the black and white of California statute, they’re out of line.

"What Lungren and local law enforcement are missing in this is the big picture," Martin said. "When the people of California approved 215, they said that sick people should have access to medical marijuana, and you should find a way to make it work."

Despite the growing apprehension and dwindling numbers of clubs, medical marijuana is far from dead. With marijuana freely available on the black market, underground distribution groups operate even in areas where law enforcement officials stridently oppose it.

Co-operative groups that grow and share their own marijuana—without money changing hands—are thriving in Arcata and Santa Cruz. Several other groups that still rely on the black market are trying to grow their own.

The groups also hope that courts now mulling the contradictions of Proposition 215 may produce rulings allowing some buyers’ clubs to operate. And Vasconcellos has introduced legislation creating a task force to study the distribution of medical marijuana, and plans to convene a summit on the issue on late May.

"We need to put together a smart and sensible plan," Vasconcellos said. "We’re doing what we can to crack this problem, and I think we’re making some inroads."

MEDICAL MARIJUANA CLUBS, CO-OPS AND DISPENSARIES IN CALIFORNIA