cannabisnews.com: Low Times: S.F. Pot Club Closes, Fears Raids Low Times: S.F. Pot Club Closes, Fears Raids Posted by FoM on November 06, 2001 at 22:55:36 PT By Tali Woodward Source: San Francisco Bay Guardian Several people gathered Nov. 1 inside the yellow-and-purple walls of Cannabis Healing Californians, a pot club on 10th Street. It wasn't the sort of scene one might expect – there was no giggling, no napping, no "dude, where's my pipe?" comments. There are 1,200 people in the club's database. Most suffer from AIDS or cancer; to get marijuana, they must show a California ID, a doctor's recommendation, and a cannabis ID card issued by the city's Department of Public Health. They come to get weed and also to take advantage of yoga classes, massage, acupuncture, and nutritional advice – all free. A patient named Deborah says pot from the club has helped her kick her prescription pill habit. "When my parents saw me for the first time in six months, they said, 'Whatever you're doing, don't stop,' " she says. "I'm a completely changed person." Now the club, one of several city dens where the afflicted can find a little bit of comfort, is in the process of shutting down. The owners say they think the Oct. 25 Drug Enforcement Administration raid of a respected club in West Hollywood is the opening shot in a large-scale attack on medical marijuana by the Bush administration. It's a move that many have anticipated since the Supreme Court ruled in May that federal law overrides Proposition 215, the 1996 initiative that sanctioned medical marijuana in California. San Francisco district attorney Terence Hallinan told the Bay Guardian he has no knowledge that the Drug Enforcement Administration is planning raids in San Francisco, though "a number of clubs feel they are under surveillance." Hallinan called on the feds Nov. 5 to stay away from San Francisco clubs, saying that Prop. 215 has been successfully implemented here and that street crime is down as a result. Sup. Mark Leno introduced legislation the same day that would make the city "a sanctuary for medical cannabis use, cultivation, and distribution." It also urges state and local authorities not to participate in a federal crackdown. Supporters of medical marijuana are cheered by the efforts, but they're not resting any easier. While pot laws in other countries are being loosened – just last week the United Kingdom reclassified marijuana as a soft drug – the U.S. government seems determined to step up antimarijuana efforts. After Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote his anti-Prop. 215 opinion, which said that the federal Controlled Substances Act prohibits the distribution of marijuana, several conservative members of Congress urged U.S. attorney general John Ashcroft to stop pot smoking where it is permitted by state or county law. (Right now eight states and the District of Columbia have medical pot laws on the books.) Dale Gieringer, the California coordinator of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and one of the lead organizers for Prop. 215, says the L.A. raid makes it clear that President George W. Bush has nothing but the worst intentions when it comes to medical marijuana. And while Gieringer is hopeful that even federal law can be changed, he stresses the immediate effects of a concerted crackdown. "They have completely destroyed the legal medical marijuana market in L.A.," Gieringer says, sending people out into the black market and potentially to jail. "They're creating marijuana criminals. I don't know what possible good the government thinks they're doing." Robin Few, who opened Cannabis Healing Californians with Michael Foley, uses pot to treat her Hepatitis C and also to keep from drinking. "I was a barfly. I went from bar to bar," she says, acknowledging that her club's late hours (usually it's open 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.) are designed to give people a place to hang out. "Look at what we've built with our city," Few says. "How can the federal government come in now, when there's anthrax to worry about?" Dennis Collins, a 55-year-old Vietnam vet who has spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal that compresses nerves and causes intense pain, is standing by the club's door. "My neurosurgeon was going to put me on pain pills and said I'd have to get liver and kidney tests every six months," he says. "I asked him, 'Do you mean to tell me that these pills are going to wreck my liver or kidneys? Is there an alternative?' " Collins's doctor suggested he try marijuana, and four years later he says it enables him to walk without pain and to eat more healthily. He takes the bus up from San Mateo once a month to buy weed. Where will Collins go now that the club is closing? Few and Foley are giving their regular customers directions to other clubs, sometimes walking them outside to point the way. "There are other clubs open," Foley said. "But who knows how long that'll last?" Source: San Francisco Bay Guardian (CA)Author: Tali Woodward Published: November 7, 2001Copyright: 2001 San Francisco Bay GuardianContact: letters sfbg.comWebsite: http://www.sfbg.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:California NORML http://www.canorml.org/ Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmHallinan's Pot Shot at Fedshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11276.shtmlProposal for Medical Pot Sanctuary http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11266.shtmlTime for The U.S. To Honor Prop. 215 http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11255.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #13 posted by Sandino on November 07, 2001 at 16:16:49 PT: "Just A Pissin In the Wind"! I want to share this little goody that Reverend Bookburn e-mailed me last night, with all the fine people at Cannabisnews. Let this fine piece of art by the PieMan be dedicated to our fearless unelected crass leader: the "compASSionate necrophile" and always remember to "Just Say KNOW to Bullshit"! S.A. Homeshttp://www.pieman.org/pissonbush.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by goneposthole on November 07, 2001 at 07:28:15 PT Ben Franklin "The doors of wisdom are never closed."The goofyment would be wise to pass through them. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by Zero_G on November 07, 2001 at 06:23:30 PT: Ah well.. If these supposedly damged memory cells are correct the classic version of this typing excersize should read:"Now is the time..."Whatever.But I would like to comment on the Hutchinson DEA, Ashcroft statements of late.This is a perfect time, now that the DEA has shown itself to be targeting medical patients in California using cannibis to relieve symptoms of AIDS etc., to point out that they have no concept on the science of pain relief and the latest results in Britain; Not to mention over 5000 years of [i]anecdotal[/i] evidence of its effectiveness.Whatever.I'm personally upset about the separation between medical and recreational use. Agriculture is not a crime. Incarceration for particpation in agriculure is a crime against humanity.Zero G [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by Lehder on November 07, 2001 at 03:52:44 PT you are right, qqqq it's like an action packed thriller, except that you don't know how it will end, or when. in real life sometimes evil triumphs. the article you link tells how bush's policy is certain to kill 7.5 million afghans by starvation, how this is being done in the name of a war on terrorism, and how americans seem not to care but will certainly be held responsible for it by all the world. that's more people than hitler killed by holocaust.my previous comment warns that it is bush, not al qaeda, that is threatening use of nuclear weapons. what, really, do bush's statements tell us about terrorists and nuclear weapons? nothing. why were they made? we have known for ten years or more, and certainly since the soviet collapse, that terrorists seek nuclear bombs. it is not news. so why, in a war that is to be conducted in "utmost secrecy", should bush be haranguing us about nuclear terrorism? if there is such a threat, then the feds ought to be quashing it - quietly and swiftly. and i think if the terrorists, whoever they are, had had nuclear capability in september, then all of manhattan would have been leveled.i interpret bush's statements as in my previous comment. i certainly hope my fears are not verified by more such irresponsible talk from bush. but my first thoughts on reading about bush's loud statements about nuclear terrorism - which he made by satellite to a meeting of leaders in poland - were that he would next try out these kinds of scary and agitating remarks in the u.s. then we would hear them over and over for a period of weeks. like the anthrax. and then we would be told, after the fact, that it was necessary to fight fire with fire. that is how totalitarians operate. i read the commondreams article a while ago, thanks, and look at the articles on that excellent site nearly every day. it is the voice of reason, and a place that offers much better than either of the two ugly choices to which bush would limit us.yes, it is hard to believe that such obtuse stupidity has taken charge and directs a nation that holds so many peaceful, productive and intelligent people who have led the world in every aspect of culture. and now this. i could puke. but hang in there, my friend, we have the internet. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by qqqq on November 07, 2001 at 03:18:29 PT thanx for the link Lehder ...day by day,,this whole thing seems to get way more grotesque.I'm having a hard time believing that people aren't appalled,and concerned by the type of lunatic rhetoric that the shrub is talking..the words remind me of something one would read in some strange cheap paperback... Here's an excellent article: http://commondreams.org/views01/1106-10.htm [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Lehder on November 07, 2001 at 02:41:49 PT head case One of firedog's Bush quotes,``We see the same intolerance of dissent, the same mad global ambitions, the same brutal determination to control every life and all of life,''is found in the article "Bush Warns Bin Laden Wants Nuclear Weapons" http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011106/ts/attack_bush_dc.htmland I would agree that it sounds like U.S. policy, foreign and domestic even though the statement was directed at al Qaeda. It's an especially apt description of Bush's policy for medical marijuana and states' rights.In the same satellite harangue to a gathering of leaders in Eastern Europe, Bush said this:``This is an evil man that we're dealing with, and I wouldn't put it past him to develop evil weapons to try to harm civilization as we know it,''and this:``Like the fascists and totalitarians before them, these terrorists -- al Qaeda, the Taliban regime that supports them and other terror groups across our world -- try to impose their radical views through threats and violence.'' It is characteristic of totalitarians that their accusations against others are in fact descriptions of themselves, and that what they present as statements of fact are actually statements of purpose.Bush said al Qaeda's goal was to ``destabilize entire nations and regions'' and was ``seeking chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.'' [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by qqqq on November 07, 2001 at 00:27:30 PT well....RevOx ..Look on the brite side,,,,if ya wanna score some weed,,all ya gotta do is look for guys with breasts,who have bearded Yedi girlfriends......watch out for guys with hairy palms though..Firedog,,I loved your shrub quotes,,do you know what speech the are from? [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Rev0x on November 06, 2001 at 23:56:35 PT off topic... I read the "Marijuana has Numerous Effects on Teens" post just now and I am extremely upset. How can such journalism get past editors? The single most interesting thing in the whole editorial was that, according to Mrs. Agostine, marijuana decreases testosterone in males AND INCREASES it in females? That's absolutely ridiculous. That's almost as crazy as saying masturbation will give you hairy palms. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by firedog on November 06, 2001 at 23:56:34 PT Bush's comment Here's a recent quote from Mr. Bush. Amazingly enough, it's actually coherent. He is saying that Islamic terrorists pose a threat as serious as... the DEA and those who drive their agenda? "We see the same intolerance of dissent; the same mad, global ambitions; the same brutal determination to control every life and all of life."We have seen the true nature of these terrorists in the nature of their attacks: they kill thousands of innocent people and then rejoice about it." No, the Nazis and Communists, but I think it fits perfectly.Ah, sweet irony... [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by firedog on November 06, 2001 at 23:29:11 PT Latest assault on medicine Looks like the Two Assholes (Ass Hutchinson and John Asscroft) have a new crackdown planned:http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/ashcroft_suicide011106.html [ Post Comment ] Post Comment