SF Marijuana Club Under New Legal Attack

April 28, 1998 - Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco medical marijuana club that earlier this month sidestepped an order to shut down faced new legal problems Tuesday as a judge considered whether to hit it with a fresh restraining order.

Superior Court Judge William Cahill said he would rule Wednesday on whether the San Francisco Cannabis Healing Center, now headed by 79-year-old grandmother Hazel Rodgers, would have to cease operations.

State Attorney General Dan Lungren asked for the temporary restraining order after the club circumvented an earlier order to close by shutting its doors for a day and then reopening under a different name.

``It is continuing the legacy of an outlaw operation,'' said Rob Stutzman, a Lungren spokesman.

``Just because they changed the name on the door doesn't change the fact that they are violating California law.''

Rodgers, who uses marijuana to treat her glaucoma, was named to head the new organization, replacing longtime chief Denis Peron, who has been engaged in a long struggle with Lungren over the interpretation of California's 1996 law legalizing the medical use of marijuana.

The law, approved by 56 percent of the state's voters, allows marijuana to be used on a doctor's advice for treating the symptoms of AIDS, cancer, and other serious diseases.

But state and federal authorities have raised legal objections to the clubs that distribute the drug, saying many of them are overstepping the limits of the law and selling pot to the public at large.

Earlier this month, Judge David Garcia ordered Peron to close his Cannabis Cultivators Club after he determined that the organization was selling marijuana to healthy ``caregivers'' rather than to the patients themselves.

Peron agreed to close, but arranged for the new Healing Center to take over in the same premises the following day, with Rodgers at the helm, at least on paper.

``It is going to be a tragedy for some people,'' Rodgers said of official efforts to close the club. ``They use marijuana to help stay alive.''

California courts have already ruled that the 20-odd marijuana clubs around the state are illegal because they are not ``primary caregivers'' to their members -- a condition set by the state law.

The Justice Department has also taken the clubs before a federal judge, demanding that they be closed for violation of federal drug laws. But the clubs have won strong support from local officials, who say the federal government should respect the will of California's voters and allow local governments time to develop a system to monitor club operations.

San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and city District Attorney Terence Hallinan have been particularly strong supporters, going as far as to suggest the city itself could step in to supply marijuana to patients if the clubs are forced to close.

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