MEDICAL MARIJUANA FILES ARE ADMISSIBLE DECISION A SETBACK FOR SAN JOSE
CANNABIS CLUB

In a major blow to a San Jose medical marijuana club, a judge ruled
yesterday that patient and financial files seized in a police search of the
club can be used as evidence in an upcoming trial.

Peter Baez, 35, co-founder of the Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis
Center, faces seven felony counts of selling marijuana to people lacking a
doctor's recommendation, operating a drug house, and grand theft through
housing fraud.

Baez, cousin of folk singer Joan Baez, has said he is innocent. Police
acknowledged he has cooperated in the past by turning in patients with
forged prescriptions.

Defense attorney Gerald Uelmen, a Santa Clara University law professor who
helped represent O.J. Simpson, expressed disappointment with the ruling by
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Diane Northway.

``The message is that anyone who operates a dispensary has rocks in their
head,'' Uelmen said. ``If you open a marijuana dispensary under the San
Jose ordinance and rely on the assurances of police that you'll be allowed
to operate, that assurance is worthless. If they want to treat you like a
drug dealer, they will.''

San Jose police officers searched the club in March after finding a
discrepancy between a patient's medical chart and a doctor's denial that he
had prescribed marijuana for the man.

Officers removed 265 patient files, financial statements and computer
records to copy and examine.

Uelmen, who sought to have the evidence suppressed, argued that the search
violated the Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and
seizure and likened the raid to a ``fishing expedition.''

But prosecutors argued that police were authorized under city ordinance to
search for illegal sales at the center.

In court documents, prosecutors said that marijuana sales to five patients
were illegal because none had doctor recommendations.

They also said Baez, who received no salary, used the center's money to pay
for personal expenses such as his water bill and satellite television.

Jesse Garcia, the other co-founder of the club, said that a benefits
counselor from the Visiting Nurses Association AIDS project said that they
could have payments for personal expenses up to $500 made directly to
companies providing services.

Northway ruled that although ``the scope of the seizure exceeded the scope
of the search warrant,'' total suppression of the patient files was not
required.

She said police had sufficient evidence to seize financial records at the
club, but said she needed more time to rule on the computer seizure.

Deputy District Attorney Rob Baker called the ruling a ``total
vindication'' for the district attorney and police.

``The judge saw through the hypocrisy, that the defendant wants the
benefits of the ordinance without the burden,'' Baker said.

Defense attorneys still plan to request that the charges against Baez be
dismissed.

The Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Center opened in April 1997 after
state voters approved Proposition 215, authorizing the cultivation and use
of marijuana for medical purposes, in 1996.

The center closed May 8.