JUDGE'S ORDER CLOSES MARIJUANA CLUB

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A judge ordered a San Francisco medical marijuana
club to shut down Thursday, a day after a ruling against such clubs took
effect statewide.

But a lawyer for the San Francisco Cannabis Cultivators Club say it is not
breaking the law and does not plan to stop operation.

`We are abiding by the law,'' said J. David Nick, lawyer for Dennis Peron
- -- founder of the club and author medical marijuana initiative approved by
voters in November 1996.

Nick said the club's distribution of marijuana to patients complied with
the state appeals court ruling and Thursday's injunction. But Attorney
General Dan Lungren said the injunction requires the club to close its doors.

On Wednesday, the California Supreme Court denied review of an appellate
ruling in December that said the initiative did not allow marijuana clubs
to sell the drug to patients. The ruling also said a commercial operation
such as a club cannot be a ``primary caregiver'' authorized to furnish
marijuana.

But some of the state's 20 club operators, including Peron, say they are
not violating the order because they don't sell marijuana, they simply give
it to patients who reimburse them for the cost of cultivating it.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge David Garcia issued a preliminary
injunction Thursday drafted by Lungren's office. It prohibits Peron from
selling, furnishing or giving away marijuana to anyone unless he qualifies
as a ``primary caregiver.''

The initiative allows possession and cultivation of marijuana upon a
doctor's recommendation to ease the pain and nausea of AIDS, cancer,
glaucoma and other conditions. Patients can grow the drug themselves or
obtain it from a primary caregiver, defined as one who has ``consistently
assumed responsibility for the housing, health or safety'' of the patient.

Peron says the more than 8,000 patients who belong to his club have
designated him as their primary caregiver.

But the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled that state law prohibits anyone
from selling marijuana or possessing it for sale. The court also said
Peron's club, a commercial enterprise open to anyone who came in with a
doctor's recommendation, did not qualify as a primary caregiver.

Nick said he would argue the issue at an April 3 hearing on a permanent
injunction. Meanwhile, he said, the club ``will continue to serve the sick
and dying at all costs.''