POLICE: RAID YIELDS POT FARM AT THE HAYWARD HEMPERY

HAYWARD - The battle over medicinal marijuana reignited in Hayward on
Tuesday when police raided an outspoken advocate's downtown pot club.

There was no word if Robert Wilson, owner of the Hayward Hempery, was
arrested during the 3 p.m. search of his business, 22580 Foothill Blvd.
Narcotics investigators were inside the building into the evening. As of 8
p.m., Wilson had not been booked into the city jail.

Officially, the Hempery sells used records and hemp-fiber clothing. But
Wilson has made it no secret that he will provide anyone with a doctor's
note with marijuana.

Officers didn't comment on what they'd discovered inside the shop, but
Hayward Police Chief Craig Calhoun said they found a marijuana growing
operation. He didn't know how large.

"It's been our experience that people who are cultivating marijuana (do it)
to sell drugs and make money," Calhoun said. "This isn't about medical
marijuana and Proposition 215 issues. This is about cultivating marijuana
for sales."

Oakland attorney Bill Panzer - who has represented Wilson in the past -
said the state Health and Safety code drafted by Prop. 215 allows for a
care giver to cultivate marijuana.

He said the search warrant was "low-key." Officers didn't want to surprise
or disturb any terminally ill patients who might have been inside.

"It depends on how many people a person is care giver for," Panzer said.
"The yield on these plants is much much less than the cops think."

He got a call from the shop about the raid but hadn't heard whether Wilson
was arrested.

As owner of one of only five known medical pot clubs in the East Bay,
Wilson serves a lot of people who need the drug, Panzer said.

Prop. 215, also known as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, legalized
marijuana for medical use. People with painful, often terminal diseases
such as cancer and AIDS are allowed to use the drug as medication for
nausea and pain. Some advocates also claim it remedies dozens of mental
conditions, including alcoholism and anxiety disorders.

But two years after voters approved the law, many users and drug providers
exist in a gray area, subject to the discretion of local cops.

Even the government can't seem to agree on how to handle sick people
smoking dope. Last year, Attorney General Bill Lockyer convened a task
force to explore the issue. That task force drafted Senate Bill 848, which
would have created a state registry with membership cards for medical
marijuana users.

The bill was rendered inactive after the office of Gov. Gray Davis said he
likely would veto it.

Panzer said Oakland created special guidelines to help police determine
whether large marijuana growing operations are for medical use or for
illegal recreational use.

Hayward City Manager Jesus Armas said the city has not taken a position on
medical marijuana.

Tod Mikuriya, a Berkeley doctor who works with Wilson to provide marijuana,
said the legal wrangling and differing attitudes among all levels of law
enforcement has created "functional anarchy."

Instead being up to local police, marijuana should be a health issue, he said.

"I don't know why Bob (Wilson) is under scrutiny. I don't think there have
been any kind of incidents or people hanging out in the street or being
indiscreet," Mikuriya said.

At least not recently. The Hempery was robbed twice in 1998, the same year
a 34-year-old Oakland man was shot to death when he broke into a Hayward
home where Wilson had recently lived.