CLOSURE OF CANNABIS CLUB ORDERED

Judge tells U.S. marshals to shut down Oakland cooperative, the largest
remaining in the state. Medical marijuana supporters say they will appeal.

SAN FRANCISCO--A federal judge has authorized U.S. marshals to close the
state's largest still-functioning cannabis club Friday evening. Club
operators said they will appeal the ruling. U.S. District Judge Charles
Breyer rejected the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative's argument that for
some people, marijuana is an irreplaceable drug that relieves their pain
and even saves their lives.

In a ruling issued Tuesday evening, Breyer found the club in contempt of
his May ruling that six Northern California clubs must close because their
sale of marijuana violates federal drug laws.

The Oakland cooperative and another, much smaller club in Marin County had
defied Breyer's ruling and continued to sell marijuana. The judge spared
the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana on Tuesday from immediate closure.
Instead, he said he will allow a jury trial on the narrow question of
whether the Marin club actually distributed marijuana on the day that it
was under a federal agent's surveillance.

But the judge offered no such reprieve to the Oakland club, despite its
strong backing from the Oakland City Council.

In August, the council tried to protect the Cannabis Buyers Cooperative by
naming the club's operators "officers" of the city. The move made Oakland
the first city in the nation to become directly involved in distributing
medical marijuana. In an earlier ruling, Breyer rejected the city's
reasoning.

The club, which has 2,000 members, was open for business Wednesday in
downtown Oakland. Jeff Jones, the executive director, held a news
conference on the steps of City Hall to denounce Breyer's ruling.

"We've gotten a lot of frantic patients calling us and a lot coming in from
great distances to get their medicine because they know we might not be
open by the weekend," Jones said in a telephone interview.

"Patients are very scared that they are going to have to go back on the
streets." The club was allowing patients to stock up Wednesday, according
to Jones. "We have a normal limit of one-quarter ounce per day, but we are
allowing people with a statement of need from a physician to alter that
today to an ounce a day," he said.

The Justice Department's reaction to Breyer's ruling was subdued Wednesday.

"I can't say much, except that we were gratified that the judge ruled as he
did," said spokesman Gregory King. "We expect to enforce the court's order.
We have said in the past that the federal government was taking a measured
approach to ensure that federal law continued to be enforced. We feel that
that is what we tried to do and that is what is being done." Cannabis clubs
sprang up across the state after California voters approved Proposition
215, the November 1996 initiative allowing patients with a doctor's
recommendation to grow and use marijuana for a variety of illnesses,
including AIDs and cancer. At one point, as many as 28 clubs were
functioning openly, selling marijuana to thousands of people.

Most of the clubs have since closed. Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren won a ruling
from a state appellate court that Proposition 215 did not legalize medical
marijuana clubs. Lungren closed the largest club, Denis Peron's San
Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club, earlier this year. The club said it was
serving 8,000 people.

Other clubs--including ones in San Jose and in Orange County--closed after
their operators were arrested on suspicion of illegally selling or
possessing marijuana.

If the Oakland cooperative is closed Friday, the largest remaining club in
the state will be the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center in West
Hollywood, with 521 members. The center was not a target of the federal
action against the Northern California clubs.

"I hate that idea that we are the biggest one in the state now," said Scott
Imler, director of the West Hollywood club.

"I feel sad for the whole medical marijuana movement," he said. "It is
going to be two years ago this election day that Proposition 215 passed.
One year ago, there were 28 community-based groups that had small to large
medical marijuana programs. Now, there are three of us left. The movement
is in chaos." In a friend-of-the-court brief to
Breyer on behalf of the club this summer, the city of Oakland argued that
under the federal Controlled Substances Act, city officers enforcing local
drug ordinances are immune from prosecution for possessing, buying and
selling illegal drugs in the course of their work.

Breyer rejected that argument in an Aug. 31 hearing, describing the city's
argument as "creative, but not persuasive." However, at the time he refused
the Justice Department's demand that the clubs be immediately found in
contempt of court and closed.

Instead, Breyer took under submission the clubs' request for a jury trial
on the question of whether they could operate under a "medical necessity"
finding.

Defense attorney James Brosnahan, representing the Oakland club, argued at
the hearing that medicinal marijuana is an irreplaceable drug for some
patients.

In his latest order, Breyer rejected that defense.

The judge ruled that there was no evidence that imminent harm would befall
patients denied medical marijuana.

"Even though our members testified that medical cannabis has actually saved
their lives, they didn't say they would die tomorrow without medical
cannabis," said Robert Raich, attorney for the Oakland club. "As a result,
over 2,000 patients may lose their access to a necessary and lifesaving
medicine."

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson