OPERATOR TO CLOSE S.F. CANNABIS CLUB

It will sprout again with new name.

Leave it to Dennis Peron to figure out a way to wiggle around a San
Francisco judge's order to shut down the Cannabis Cultivators Club.

Yesterday, Peron announced that the organization was going out of business.
He also announced that it would instantly reopen with a new name, new rules
- -- and a 78-year-old woman as its new director.

Peron said he would have no ties to the new group. ``I'm out of it
completely,'' he said.

He also said he has requested that the Sheriff's Department close his club.

``It will probably happen early next week,'' he said. ``We've asked them to
respect our campaign offices, because I'm running for governor (in the
Republican primary against Dan Lungren). Otherwise, they will be able to
seize any property they find and seal the building. The keys will then be
handed over to the landlord.''

Peron said his landlord has agreed to lease the building immediately to
Hazel Rogers, a 78-year-old artist and member of the cultivators club who
suffers from glaucoma and other maladies.

``She has agreed to be the director of the new club, which will be called
the Cannabis Healing Center,'' Peron said. ``If (the state attorney
general's office) wants to deal in technicalities, we can play the same
game.''

Wednesday's order by Superior Court Judge David Garcia declared that Peron
was illegally selling marijuana at the club, and that either the San
Francisco Sheriff's Department or the California Bureau of Narcotics
Enforcement could shut it down.

Garcia said that only ``primary caregivers'' can provide marijuana to
patients under provisions of Proposition 215, the state medical marijuana
initiative that passed last year -- not businesses that purveyed the weed.

John Entwistle, a spokesman for the Cannabis Cultivators Club, said Peron's
move will nullify Garcia's order.

``(Rogers) will not distribute to caregivers,'' said Entwistle. ``She'll
only provide marijuana directly to the patients. That conforms in every way
to the exact language (of Proposition 215).''

Rogers said she wasn't sure of all the ramifications of her new position,
but that she was looking forward to it.

``I'm honored,'' she said. ``There'll probably be a hundred people to help
me run it. It will be fun to sit in Dennis' chair and put my feet up on his
desk. One thing's for sure -- we're going to obey the letter of the law.''

By requesting the San Francisco Sheriff's Department to close the club,
Peron is enlisting the aid of an old ally.

``I have total confidence in Sheriff (Michael) Hennessey,'' Peron said.
``He's an honest man, and I trust him to carry out Garcia's order in a fair
and lawful fashion.''

Lillian Brown, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Department, said
``(Hennessey) has decided that he will probably go ahead with the eviction,
though he hasn't decided when. He will decide that with his staff.''

Peron said that he wanted to make sure state narcotics agents did not have
the opportunity to close the club. There has been bad blood between Peron
and California Attorney General Dan Lungren since 1996, when state agents
raided the club.

Peron still faces criminal charges of illegally selling marijuana as a
result of that raid. ``I just don't want those (state narcotics) agents in
here wearing their rubber gloves, standing around making jokes about AIDS
to sick people,'' Peron said.

Matt Ross, a spokesman for Lungren, said he could not comment on the
prospect of the cultivators' club closing ``until we see what Peron is up
to.''

Peron said he will probably open a new medical marijuana club in time, but
not at his old Market Street address.

``I'm too busy running for governor right now anyway,'' he said.

)1998 San Francisco Chronicle