PATIENTS SCRAMBLE TO FIND POT

Painful search: Cannabis club members lament closings.

MIDDLETOWN -- Ryan Landers didn't plan on being a farmer. Then again, he
never planned on getting AIDS and needing marijuana to stay hungry enough
to keep him from wasting away.

He used to buy marijuana at the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative. But
that club, like many that opened after a 1996 medicinal marijuana
initiative passed, has been shut down by a federal court order.

Now many club members, including Landers, increasingly are forced to seek
out small, low-profile groups and buy from street dealers. Dozens have been
arrested for having plants. Short of a federal change of heart allowing
doctors to prescribe marijuana, co-ops that grow marijuana to give or sell
to patients may be their best hope.

For Landers, that means traveling to Middletown, a tiny, rural town in the
wine country about 90 miles north of San Francisco, to buy the marijuana
that will ease his nausea. Here, Proposition 215 author Dennis Peron and
members of his two defunct San Francisco clubs grow marijuana. This summer,
Peron plans to begin delivering plants to thousands of San Francisco
patients who will pay for them at cost.

``This was really horrible when the clubs shut down,'' Landers said.
``(People) don't know where to get plants and seeds.

``It's been more than two years. People should be growing pot. They
shouldn't be scared to.''

After the medicinal marijuana law passed, allowing the cultivation and use
of marijuana for medical purposes, the number of clubs in California peaked
at around 30, said Dave Fratello, one of the authors of the bill. Similar
medicinal marijuana measures later passed in five other states and the
District of Columbia.

But in California, then-Attorney General Dan Lungren oversaw a series of
state-initiated efforts that closed about two-thirds of the clubs, most in
Northern California. Federal raids and court rulings also contributed to
the shutdowns, although some advocates say that for every club that has
closed, at least another has opened -- albeit quietly -- in its place.

State officials and medicinal marijuana advocates say a national Institutes
of Medicine review scheduled for release next month will be critical in
getting federal officials to consider reclassifying marijuana as a
less-dangerous drug or allowing doctors to prescribe it. The 18-month
review of the health effects and medical treatment benefits of marijuana
was ordered by drug czar Barry McCaffrey.

``The cannabis clubs were a great stopgap measure . . . but it wasn't a
solution,'' said Scott Imler, director of the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource
Center in West Hollywood. The center is one of two well-known cannabis
clubs in Southern California and has 1,100 members from Bakersfield to Palm
Springs.

Imler and others are optimistic that things will change with a new governor
and attorney general in office and new district attorneys and sheriffs in
communities that have been hostile to distribution efforts.

``The main problem we've had is lack of guidance to law enforcement,'' said
Jason Browne, a trustee of the Humboldt Cannabis Center in Arcata.
``Everyone is waiting for someone else to do something, and meanwhile the
patients are at risk.''

Brian Steel, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, would not
comment on why smaller co-ops have survived while the larger groups were
shut down.

``The Department of Justice is committed to following the law that Congress
has passed, and to that end, Congress has said the use or distribution of
marijuana is illegal,'' he said. ``Consistent with that, that's what we're
going to do.''

Advocates say the clubs were safe and convenient.

``I like the clubs better. There's no hassle, no pressure. You get what you
need and leave,'' said Chris Ward, 39, who bought marijuana at the Oakland
club to ease the effects of chemotherapy. Now he plans to go to a new
Berkeley co-op, about 200 miles south of his home in Oak Run.

Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, has not said whether he will support proposed
legislation to authorize $1 million annually to study medicinal marijuana
or a plan to specify or standardize the enforcement of Proposition 215.

``I believe good science should resolve this issue,'' Davis has said.

Attorney General Bill Lockyer, also a Democrat, said he voted for the
medicinal marijuana law and agrees more guidance is needed. His mother and
sister both died of leukemia.

``There are omissions and gaps and ambiguities in the initial statute that
would benefit from clarification,'' Lockyer said. ``It's unclear exactly
who can be a caretaker and exactly what the system is for setting up a
dispensary and clinic.''

Patients can still get marijuana at operations in San Francisco, West
Hollywood, San Diego, Fairfax, Sonoma County, Ukiah, Arcata, Berkeley and
Hayward. Peron's farm was twice raided by Drug Enforcement Administration
officials, who confiscated hundreds of plants but made no arrests.