DA, POT-CLUB FOUNDER IN TALKS FOR PLEA DEAL

Law: Defendant,Suffering From Lung Cancer, Faces A Virtual Life
Sentence, Attorney Says.

Jack Shachter is dying of lung cancer.

He spent Monday morning at the hospital, enduring radiation treatment. He
spent Monday afternoon in court, trying to sort out how he'll spend the
rest of his life. At home? Or in prison?

"I'm tired," Shachter said.

Shachter is a co-founder of Orange County's Cannabis Co-Op, the local
medicinal marijuana group that popped up after Proposition 215 passed in
1996. The co-op furnished pot to people with a doctor's recommendation to
use the drug - in exchange for $20 "donations."

In April 1998, Shachter gave pot to two undercover officers posing as
caregivers to sick people, and accepted the "donations." He was arrested
and charged with selling marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent
to sell - felonies that would land him in prison for some four years.

That's several years longer than he has left, his lawyer said.

An agreement is in the works between Shachter and the District Attorney's
Office that might keep Shachter out of prison for his last days. The D.A.'s
office wants Shachter to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and a felony;
Shachter's attorney hopes that felony can be reduced to a misdemeanor,
because if Shachter pleads guilty to a felony he loses his Medi-Cal benefits.

"Mr. Shachter is not a felon," said James Silva, Shachter's attorney. "He's
not a criminal at all."

Shachter was arrested with fellow co-op founder Marvin Chavez. Last year,
Chavez was found guilty of three felony counts of selling or transporting
marijuana, and is serving a six-year prison sentence. Both men said they
were simply trying to help people cope with pain, and were working within
the bounds of the new law - as they understood it.

There has been much confusion over how to implement Prop. 215, and a bill
pending in the Legislature is aimed at clearing up the haze and ensuring
that enforcement is consistent throughout the state.