NEW MARIJUANA CLUB ALLOWED TO OPERATE

SAN FRANCISCO--A judge has refused to order the immediate shutdown of a
medical marijuana club that opened a day after the Cannabis Cultivators
Club, on the same site, was closed by court order. Superior Court Judge
William Cahill instead told the new Cannabis Healing Center this week to
curb drug sales within 150 feet of its premises. He set a June 4 hearing to
determine if drug laws are being broken inside the club.

The Cannabis Cultivators Club supplied marijuana to about 9,000 patients
and was run by Dennis Peron, author of Proposition 215, the ballot
initiative that allowed patients to use marijuana for side effects of
cancer therapy, AIDS and other illnesses with a doctor's recommendation.

A state appeals court ruled last year that the club, which served patients
coming off the street, was not a "primary caregiver" authorized by
Proposition 215. State Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren went to court for a shutdown
order, but Peron contended that he was serving only patients for whom the
club provided continuing care. Superior Court Judge David Garcia
sidestepped the dispute and instead ordered the club closed based on
Peron's admission that it sold marijuana not only to patients but also to
caregivers of bedridden patients.

The club closed April 20. The next day, the Cannabis Healing Center opened
in the same storefront, under the direction of Hazel Rodgers, 79, who uses
marijuana for glaucoma.

Copyright Los Angeles Times