SAN JOSE POT CLUB SHUTS ITS DOORS AFTER A YEAR

The Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Center closed Friday, with clients
cheered by an appearance by folk singer Joan Baez, angered at authorities
who have accused the center's executive director of wrongdoing and puzzled
about how to find the marijuana to relieve their suffering.

After running the center for more than a year, Executive Director Peter
Baez and Director Jesse Garcia said they lack the funds to continue. But
they may reopen as soon as next week if a judge orders the return of some
or all of the $29,000 prosecutors have seized from the club.

Some clients were upset at what they saw as authorities' attempts to
undermine Proposition 215, the 1996 initiative legalizing medicinal
marijuana. Others cried at the latest turn in the medicinal-marijuana
landscape.

Access problem

With the center's closing, its 270 clients have lost an easily accessible,
legal way to obtain pot. The next nearest pot clubs are in San Francisco
and Oakland.

``What a grave injustice to the people of this city,'' said Rose, a client
who wore a black veil over her face to mourn the center's demise. ``We need
this medicine, this God-given medicine.''

But amid the mixture of emotions, there was also hope. Even if the frozen
assets are not returned, Garcia said he hoped to talk with city and county
officials to see how to supply pot to those who need it.

``We'll give it one last try,'' Peter Baez said.

Clients said they hoped someone would step in to replace the center. Some
said they'd reluctantly go to marijuana clubs in other cities. ``It's a
medical office, because it's a lot cleaner, a lot more private'' than other
clubs, said Cynthia Elliott of Mountain View. ``You go into the city and
there's all these people around. But that's what I'm going to have to do.''

Others said they were too sick to travel as far as San Francisco or
Oakland. ``I guess I've got to become a criminal and get it from the best
place I can -- the nearest dealer,'' said cancer patient Ramon Mayo.

The gloom over the center contrasted strongly with the optimism in February
1997, when the center's operators first approached city officials about
supplying marijuana.

City officials responded by approving a unique ordinance regulating
medicinal marijuana dispensaries, trying to balance sympathy for those with
serious illnesses with concern about the welfare of neighborhoods. But the
police took a lax approach to enforcing that law until a chain of events
led to Peter Baez being arrested March 23.

Prosecutors asked police to check if a defendant in a marijuana-possession
case who belonged to the center was legitimately using the drug. Police
said they found that Peter Baez had sold the drug without obtaining a
required doctor's recommendation.

Baez's charges

Peter Baez, Joan's 36-year-old cousin, has been charged with six counts of
selling marijuana. A San Jose police sergeant has also alleged in an
affidavit that Baez overcharged clients, did not obtain doctor's
recommendations in nearly 70 cases, and spent center money on questionable
expenses.

Baez has denied any wrongdoing, saying he is the target of Proposition 215
opponents.

Police and prosecutors have said they wanted the center to stay open and
left it with enough cash and pot to continue. With the center's assets
frozen, however, Baez and Garcia said they could not function.

For many, the highlight of the club's last day was when Joan Baez appeared
to support her cousin and the cause of medicinal marijuana. She hugged many
of the center's clients, signed autographs and defended her cousin.

``I certainly wouldn't have come here if I didn't think Peter was straight
and clean,'' she said. ``Peter is not exactly felony material.''

Checked-by: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)