S.F. CANNABIS CENTER FACES NEW CRISIS

Medicinal pot: Attorney general's spokesman says the reopened club is
`continuing . . . an outlaw operation.'

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)-- The San Francisco medicinal marijuana club that
earlier this month sidestepped an order to shut down faced new legal
problems Tuesday as a judge considered whether to hit it with a fresh
restraining order.

Superior Court Judge William Cahill said he will rule today on whether the
San Francisco Cannabis Healing Center, now headed by 79-year-old Hazel
Rodgers, will have to cease operations.

State Attorney General Dan Lungren asked for the temporary restraining order
after the club circumvented an earlier order to close by shutting its doors
for a day and then reopening under a different name.

``It is continuing the legacy of an outlaw operation,'' said Rob Stutzman, a
Lungren spokesman. ``Just because they changed the name on the door doesn't
change the fact that they are violating California law.''

Rodgers, who uses marijuana to treat her glaucoma, was named to head the new
organization, replacing longtime chief Dennis Peron, who has been engaged in
a long struggle with Lungren over interpretation of California's 1996 law
legalizing the medicinal use of marijuana.

The law, approved by 56 percent of the state's voters, allows marijuana to
be used on a doctor's advice for treating the symptoms of AIDS, cancer and
other serious diseases.

But state and federal authorities have raised legal objections to the clubs
that distribute the drug.

Earlier this month, Judge David Garcia ordered Peron to close his Cannabis
Cultivators Club after he determined that the organization was selling
marijuana to healthy caregivers rather than to the patients themselves.

Peron agreed to close but arranged for the new Healing Center to take over
in the same premises the following day, with Rodgers at the helm, at least
on paper.

``It is going to be a tragedy for some people,'' Rodgers said of official
efforts to close the club. ``They use marijuana to help stay alive.''

California courts have already ruled that primary caregivers are covered by
the rules and regulations of Proposition 215. The Santa Clara County
Medical Cannabis Center and several of the state's other 20-odd medicinal
marijuana dispensaries have been unaffected by those rulings.

The Justice Department has also taken the clubs before a federal judge,
demanding that they be closed for violation of federal drug laws.

But the clubs have won strong support from local officials, who say the
federal government should respect the will of California's voters and allow
local governments time to develop a system to monitor club operations.

San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and city District Attorney Terence Hallinan
have been particularly strong supporters, going as far as to suggest the
city itself could step in to supply marijuana to patients if the clubs are
forced to close.