cannabisnews.com: Cannabis Clubs Seem To Thrive In Legal Muck





Cannabis Clubs Seem To Thrive In Legal Muck
Posted by FoM on October 26, 1999 at 22:50:07 PT
By David Holbrook, Times Staff Writer
Source: Contra Costa Times 
Prop. 215 remains under attack by federal officials, whose fight is confined to the courtroom thanks to state and local tolerance. While the legality of medical marijuana remains in limbo, Bay Area patients are having little difficulty getting the drug.
In Northern California, at least 11 groups openly sell marijuana to thousands of patients a month, despite a federal judge's order last year that shut down the region's biggest clubs. Some require a doctor's permission, while others sell it to any people who say they're sick."There are clubs going on all over the place," said Dennis Peron, the author of Proposition 215, passed by voters in 1996. "It's pretty wide open."At his marijuana farm in Lake County this month, Peron celebrated a harvest of 60-100 pounds for distribution to his mostly Bay Area clientele. It's not a clandestine operation. The Drug Enforcement Administration busted it twice last year."They softened up this year," Peron said. "I think they got tired of taking pot from sick people."Three years after California voters passed Prop. 215, which legalized marijuana use for medical purposes, the initiative remains under legal attack by federal officials. But their fight is confined to the courtroom.DEA agent Jocelyn Barnes said that until the legal issues are resolved, federal officials are deferring prosecution of cannabis clubs to local authorities."We will deal with the larger quantities, really just the cultivation of thousands of plants for distribution, as a criminal activity," she said.Despite the passage of Prop. 215, it's still a federal offense to grow, possess or sell marijuana. Last year, the Justice Department sued to shut down marijuana clubs operating under the initiative.U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer sided with federal officials, forcing clubs such as the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to shut their doors. Last month, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Breyer's ruling, finding he erred by refusing to hear the Oakland club's "medical necessity" defense."(The club) presented evidence that there is a class of people with serious medical conditions for whom the use of cannabis is necessary," the court ruled. "(The government) has yet to identify any interest it may have in blocking the distribution of cannabis to those with medical needs."The ruling is an extraordinary victory for medical-use advocates because it's a direct challenge to federal drug laws that make marijuana illegal for any use."This is a movement that's spreading to other states, and I think (federal officials) are under increasing pressure to think differently about how they approach Prop. 215," said Gerald Uelmen, a Santa Clara University law professor who helped represent the Oakland club.The Justice Department must decide by Thursday whether to appeal the 9th Circuit's ruling. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has asked U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to let the ruling stand.Federal officials, who declined to comment, are likely to appeal it, and it could be years before the legality of Prop. 215 is settled. Ultimately, federal laws would need to be rewritten to agree with medical-marijuana initiatives passed here and in five other states.Until then, most believe federal officials will refuse to bust the cannabis clubs as long as local authorities condone them."The feds don't want to be in the business of taking medicine away from the sick," Uelmen said.Northern California has the state's greatest concentration of groups selling marijuana to the ill. There are seven groups operating in San Francisco, with others in Santa Cruz, Fairfax, Ukiah and Berkeley.The Oakland club operates a downtown storefront that sells hemp-related products, but patients are referred to other clubs to purchase marijuana.Jane Weirick, manager of San Francisco's largest club, attributes the flourishing of medical marijuana groups to the tolerant attitudes of local authorities and Lockyer, a Prop. 215 supporter. His predecessor, Dan Lungren, was a fervent opponent of the initiative who busted Peron's now-defunct Cannabis Buyers Club a month before voters passed the 1996 initiative.During Lungren's investigation of the club, agents estimated that up to 350 people an hour had visited the Market Street operation.With patients now spread among numerous groups, none of today's clubs are logging such volume business. Weirick said her group, the San Francisco Patients Resource Center, has about 6,000 members.Even though she has the approval of local and state officials, Weirick still fears action from federal authorities. The center has affiliated itself with a Catholic church."Because of that 800-pound federal gorilla, we may have no choice than to grab the priest and cry sanctuary," she said.Lockyer spokesman Nathan Barankin said the attorney general is trying to negotiate a compromise with federal officials. While Reno and federal drug czar Barry McCaffrey have balked at reclassifying it, they "indicated a very strong interest in studying the medical efficacy of marijuana" he said.Lockyer has also proposed legislation that would establish standards for selling marijuana to the sick and require patient ID cards. While he supports the medical-marijuana cause, he believes the lack of regulations leaves too much room for abuse."We're trying to put some reasonable constraints to implement the will of the voters while at the same time being extremely concerned about the concerns of law enforcement," Barankin said.Lockyer inherited Lungren's criminal case against Peron's club, and has refused to drop the charges. According to the indictment against Peron, he sold marijuana to agents who provided notes from fictitious doctors.His trial is scheduled for January."This is not a medical-marijuana case," Barankin said. "The attorney general believes you cannot use Prop. 215 to illegally distribute pot."But Lockyer's sentiments are perhaps more evident in the deal he offered Peron and four other defendants. In exchange for a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit a public nuisance, Lockyer agreed to drop drug charges that could have earned them nine-year sentences.Their sentence for the conspiracy charge? Not a single day in jail as long as the defendants remained crime-free for two years."It's practically a complete dismissal of the case," said Peron's attorney, J. David Nick.The four others accepted the offer. Peron refused."We're prepared to argue a defense based on necessity and the fact that he was entrapped by these agents who took every means they could to pass themselves off as very, very sick people," Nick said.Published Tuesday, October 26, 1999 Related Article & Web Site:Dale GieringerDrug Policy Forum Of Californiahttp://www.drugsense.org/dpfca/Lockyer Urges Reno To Forgo Appeal of Medical-Pot - 10/15/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3287.shtml
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