MARIJUANA CLUBS VOW TO CONTINUE OPERATIONS

California's cannabis clubs vow to continue distributing marijuana -one way
or another-despite a formidable attack by the U.S. Justice Department.

Almost all 17 clubs in the state said they are seeking new ways to continue
serving their estimated 6,300 clients, either by restructuring their
organizations, opening under new management or creating clandestine
distribution routes.

"We'll devise a plan to help people (get marijuana)," said Dennis Peron,
whose Cannabis Cultivators' Club was targeted in the federal probe. "We
cannot abandon the sick and dying.... This will not stop medical marijuana."

In a broad and sweeping effort to close the clubs, the U.S. Justice
Department filed suit Friday to enjoin pot distribution by six clubs in
Marin, San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Cruz and Ukiah.

Officials would not say why those six clubs were singled out, but they did
not rule out investigating activities at the others.

Activists concede, no matter what their efforts, that it will be more
difficult for legitimately ill people to obtain marijuana legally.

Clubs in Berkeley, San Jose, Los Angeles and elsewhere were not
targeted-and will keep operating while exploring new options.

"Right now, it's business as usual," said Peter Baez, whose Santa Clara
Medical Cannabis Center in San Jose was not investigated but locked its
doors for the day on Friday in fear of a raid. "It's made us realize how
reality can hit you hard ... we've known, since we opened, that we'd be at
the mercy of the federal government."

'We plan to remain open'

John Pylka, director of the Berkeley-based Cannabis Buyers Cooperative
Club, also not included in the probe, said: "We definitely plan to remain
open.... I'm going to stay here, take the pressure, take the bust if I have
to."

Proposition 215, which voters approved by a 60-40 margin in November 1996,
allows growing and possessing marijuana-if it is recommended by a doctor
for treatment of symptoms of AIDS, canlcer, arthritis, glaucoma, migraine
or other conditions.

The law has come under fierce attack by state Attorney General Dan Lungren,
who won a ruling by the 1st District Court of Appeal in December that the
clubs aren't "caregivers" as defined by Prop. 215, nor shielded by their
nonprofit status.

Clubs have been braced for a raid by state officials; the federal crackdown
was unexpected.

The federal action has much broader implications than previous state
interventions. The U.S. Justice Department isn't debating the language of
Prop. 215. Rather, it charges the clubs with violating the sweeping federal
Controlled Substances Act, which states it is unlawful to cultivate,
distribute or possess marijuana.

Federal law supersedes state law, the Justice Department said.

The six targeted clubs say they |will vigorously fight closure in court-but
this legal route is clearly an uphill battle.

Few have the financial resources to sustain a long legal battle against the
U.S. Justice Department.

Some, such as Peron's club, say they will continue to operate their public
storefront in the open, risking closure, steep fines or jail time. Peron
vows to commit civil disobedience, handing out joints until federal
marshals haul him away.

But others, staffed by the elderly, sick or dying, don't want to spend
their remaining days behind bars.

"I can't do something that would put everybody on staff at risk. They're
sick and dying . . . and don't want to sit in jail," said Jeff Jones of the
Oakland Cannabis Club.

"But (the marijuana) will be gotten to them," Jones promised.

"We started as an underground delivery service, we can always go back to
that. We didn't like it . . . but if that's the way it's going to be, we
will," Jones said.

Technically, any club not targeted by the probe can continue normal
operation, said attorney Daniel Abrahamson, director of legal affairs at
the Lindesmith Center in San Francisco, a drug policy think tank and public
interest law center.

Clubs can continue selling

The clubs that have been sued can continue selling until they go to court;
they have 20 days to challenge the injunction.

Some clubs plan to restructure their operations to encourage more personal
cultivation, hoping to be less offensive to state and federal of ficials.

Valerie Corral of the Santa Cruz-based Women's Alliance of Medical
Marijuana, not cited by federal of ficials, said the club plans to expand
their emotional and medical support services for patients, as well as offer
them leased space for cultivation on hidden acreage deep in the Santa Cruz
Mountains.

The safest, although least convenient solution is for patients to grow
their own supply, drug attorneys say. Club members predict a resurgence in
small backyard or basement gardens.

Federal officials are unlikely to go after any seriously ill individual
who, with a doctors' recommendation, has the means and ability to grow
medical marijuana, Abrahamson predicted.

"(Federal authorities) cannot prosecute (against widespread personal
cultivation), unless they're willing to station tens of federal agents at
Californians' doorsteps," he said. Finally, clubs face the grim prospect of
going underground, returning to pre-Prop. 215 days.

Already there exist several surreptitious "personal distribution services,"
where clubs discreetly deliver pot door-to-door to clients.

The new heat on cannabis clubs "turns the medical marijuana movement from
something run by well-organized and tightly run clubs-with the support of
local officials-to back yards, basements and streets," Abrahamson said.