LEGAL HAZE CLOUDS MEDICINAL POT LAW

Just 17 months after California voters decisively approved Proposition 215
, the state's medicinal marijuana law is under seige.

One by one, the prophets of the medical pot movement have found themselves
in need of lawyers and bail money as the fate of the law becomes more and
more precarious. That's not exactly what pot activists had in mind
endorsed the medical use of marijuana for patients suffering from such
painful and debilitating diseases such as cancer and AIDS.

From San Diego to San Jose and San Francisco to Ukiah, owners of cannabis
centers are either mired in lawsuits brought by state and federal law
enforcement officials or defending themselves against criminal charges
related to their operations. Others, such as the proprietors of Santa
Cruz's now-defunct dispensary, are simply shutting their doors -- unable to
effectively operate under a law which appears increasingly in need of
revision to survive.

When San Jose police last month arrested Peter Baez, the co-founder of
Santa Clara County's only medical pot facility, it marked the latest bad
turn for Proposition 215 advocates.

Baez's San Jose-based Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Center had been
held up as an example of how well the law can function when local law
enforcement and city officials can agree on regulation of medicinal pot
dispensaries.

Instead, the charges against Baez and the seizure of his clients' records
have contributed to mounting distrust among the many factions struggling to
provide medical marijuana without running afoul of state and federal drug
laws on the books for decades. Baez has pledged to close his year-old
operation in the wake of six felony charges alleging he illegally sold pot
out of his center. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office
insists it's not interested in closing the facility. Still, Baez -- who
pleaded not guilty to the charges last week -- could face nine years in
prison if convicted, and the prospect of jail time has taken its toll.

"The blood of the patients who will suffer because of our closure will be
on the hands of the San Jose police," he said, "not on my hands."

Enforcement Varies

Meanwhile, the law is seen through a different lens in every county.
Enforcement varies dramatically from place to place. The estimated 14 to
20 clubs operating in California nervously exist under the watchful eye of
state attorney general and governor candidate Dan Lungren.

Lungren already has gone to court to close San Francisco's Cannabis
Cultivators' Club, run by Proposition 215 co-author Dennis Peron, who
declared his own bid for governor in reaction to the state attorney
general. Lungren, however, is counting on local police departments across
the state to close pot clubs in their cities, according to his spokesman
Matt Ross.

There are even fissures within the medical pot movement that may contribute
to its own undoing.

Peron, Proposition 215's pied piper, has drawn criticism from other pot
club operators who don't allow smoking on premises chafe every time TV news
reports include shots of Peron's patrons toking in his smoky Market Street
club.

San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan, a strong medicinal
marijuana supporter, identified such infighting as a chief reason the clubs
can't agree on procedures to comply with Proposition 215.

"Undoubtedly, if they had presented a united front -- if they had all
agreed to comply with the rules -- it would have made it easier," he said.
"But the way it is now, there are 58 counties and 58 different ideas about
how it should be done."

Still, most pot center owners -- such as Peron and Oakland club owner
Jeffery Jones -- are vowing to stay open, depsite legal obstacles and, in
some instances, personal sacrifices. While Peron and other operators
acknowledge their differences, they're quick to pin blame for their
troubles on Lungren.

"It's not really a split," Peron said. "It's different ways of doing
things. Some people have not liked the way I have operated here in San
Francisco. But we're all fighting the same battle to provide marijuana to
those who need it."

Bad News for Clubs

Peron and other owners could easily be more pessimistic. Consider these
developments of the past year:

- - The California Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling that favored
Lungren's bid to close Peron's club. A state appellate court, in a
decision severely limiting cannabis clubs' ability to operate, concluded
only "primary caregivers" qualify to dispense medical pot. The court found
that Peron's club does not qualify as a primary caregiver, although a San
Francisco judge is still considering that determination.

- - The Clinton administration filed to suit to close six Northern California
clubs, arguing that federal drug laws supercede Proposition 215. San
Francisco U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer is weighing arguments in
the case, but most legal experts say the clubs have an uphill fight. If
the Justice Department's case succeeds, it could effectively sound the
death knell for all of California' pot clubs.

- - In the first interpretation of the appellate ruling in the state's case
against Peron, a Ventura County judge last month issued an injunction
closing a cannabis dispensary in Thousand Oaks. The local district
attorney's office had sued to close the club, contending that it was acting
as a pharmacy and failing to comply with Proposition 215. The judge's
decision is being appealed.

- - Prosecutors in Orange, San Diego and Los Angeles counties have brought
criminal charges against the operators of cannabis centers, just as Santa
Clara County has brought it's own case against Baez. All of the cases test
elements of Proposition 215.

Against this backdrop of legal woes, many activists remain convinced the
law is workable, particularly when medical pot dispensaries collaberate
with public officials. In the Bay Area, the marijuana centers in San
Francisco, Oakland and San Jose enjoy support from politicians and law
enforcement.

The latest experiment to be touted by medical pot advocates is in Arcata, a
small town in Humboldt County where the police chief is so involved in
making sure pot distribution complies with the law, he personally issues
cards to patients found eligible to use the drug. The Arcata City Council
approved an ordinance this winter endorsing Police Chief Mel Brown's
approach.

The Humboldt Alliance for Medical Rights, which backs Arcata's medical pot
law, has offered to replace Baez's San Jose club if city officials modify
the local ordinance to bring it closer to the Arcata model.

In a March 24 letter to San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer, a lawyer for the
Humboldt group indicated a new club could operate locally if agreement
could be reached on a number of issues, including the possibility of the
city helping to find a site to grow marijuana. How marijuana is supplied
to clubs is viewed as one of Proposition 215's flaws.

Clubs Need Growing Sites

Dispensaries continue to rely in part on the black market for medical pot.
Even if they grow their own, they run into problems if it isn't cultivated
at the club site. State law bars transporting the drug, making it
necessary to find ways to grow pot on a site where it could then be
distributed to legitimate patients.

San Jose City Attorney Joan Gallo said that while some modifications to the
local regulations are being considered, officials are not contemplating
direct involvement in choosing or providing sites to grow medical pot.

"We have never discussed providing a site," Gallo said.

Medical pot advocates insists Proposition 215 will protect patients in need
of the drug, regardless of crackdowns on the clubs. For example, they say
patients with a doctor's recommendation for pot are protected by the law if
they are found possessing marijuana. Growing small amounts of pot for
personal use also appears sage under Proposition 215, say most advocates.

But Proposition 215's broader promise appears to be vanishing in the legal
haze. Large scale operations set up to provide medical pot to the
seriously ill are endangered.

About the only agreement in Proposition 215's now-Balkanized atmosphere is
that the federal government has the sole power to answer everyone's
concerns. Pot supporters say if federal officials reclassify the drug to
permit its use for medical purposes, other obstacles will drift away.

FADING AWAY (side bar)

Fueled by passage of Proposition 215, the state's medical marijuana
intitiative, close to 30 medical pot dispensaries were operating in
California by October 1997.

While the number are constantly changing, based on figures compiled at the
first California Conference of Medical Marijuana Providers in Santa Cruz
last fall, there are estimated 14 clubs of varying scope that remain open:

- - Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Center, San Jose
- - MedEx Delivery Service, Santa Cruz
- - Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, Santa Cruz
- - Cannabis Buyers' Club, San Francisco
- - C.H.A.M.P., San Francisco
- - Medical Cannabis Delivery Service, San Francisco
- - Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, Oakland
- - Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, Fairfax
- - Sonoma Alliance for Medical Marijuana, Jenner
- - Humboldt Cannabis Center, Arcata
- - Los Angeles Cannabis Buyers' Club, Los Angeles
- - Southern California Medical Cannabis Consumers' Co-Op, Beaumont/Riverside
- - Compassionate Use Co-Op, Rackerby
- - Access Unlimited, Ventura County