POT CLUB LAWYERS TRY FOR A MERGER

Law & Order: Cannabis club attorneys scramble to avoid more
setbacks.

Defense attorneys for Orange County Patient-Doctor-Nurse Support Group
will have their hands full in the upcoming weeks.

Currently, Venice attorney James Silva and San Francisco attorney J.
David Nick are scrambling to file an appeal for medicinal-marijuana
advocate and activist Marvin Chavez, who was sentenced Friday to six
years in state prison for convictions on drug-sale charges. They
contend that the judge erred in not allowing the jury hear a defense
based on Prop. 215, known as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996.

The attorneys noted that the appeal process is lengthy, with an
average two-year wait, but they added that another appeal on behalf
of cannabis co-op volunteer David Lee Herrick has been put on a
fast-track schedule. And they said they plan on linking the Chavez
case with Herrick's.

Herrick, who is serving four years, also was not allowed to use Prop.
215 as part of his defense.

Meanwhile, the attorneys are now scheduled to defend yet a third
member of the cannabis co-op, Jack Shachter, a Garden Grove resident.

Shachter's case has been on hold, awaiting the completion of Chavez's
trial. A hearing is set for Wednesday.

Prior to Friday's sentencing of Chavez, the two defense attorneys were
somewhat hopeful of making inroads in their efforts to have Prop. 215
introduced as a defense.