U.S. ATTORNEY FILES SUITS TO CLOSE CANNABIS CLUBS

SAN FRANCISCO -- The federal government struck a broad blow against
advocates of medical marijuana Friday, moving to shut down six major
marijuana dispensaries operating in Northern California.

Michael J. Yamaguchi, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District, filed
separate civil lawsuits charging the six "cannabis clubs" and 10 of their
operators with violating federal drug laws. The suits seek permanent
closures of two outlets in San Francisco and others in Oakland, Ukiah,
Santa Cruz and Marin County.

"The issue is not the medical use of marijuana," Yamaguchi said. "It is the
continued violation of federal law."

Calling the move a "measured approach," Yamaguchi said the suits stem from
an ongoing federal investigation into club activities, and do not rule out
the filing of future criminal charges.

Federal drug agents say the clubs are a front for black-market pot dealers
who operate with the support of some local officials.

A hearing on the request for a permanent injunction to close the clubs is
expected within six weeks.

The federal action comes as state Attorney General Dan Lungren has applied
increasing pressure on the clubs, winning a ruling last month targeting San
Francisco's Cannabis Cultivators Club -- and seriously jeopardizing the
legality of the other 20 or so clubs operating across the state.

A large marijuana distribution center in San Jose was not named in the
federal suit, although it openly dispenses marijuana to hundreds of
customers. It is the only major purveyor under the jurisdiction of the
northern district not to be included.

"The U.S. attorney does not have to criminalize every club," spokesman
Robert Stutzman said when asked about the omission.

"The San Jose club has had a particularly close relationship with that
city's district attorney, and the club's founder has helped prosecute
would-be pot smokers seeking to buy the drug with false documents," he said.

Cannabis Cultivators Club founder Dennis Peron, a defendant in the federal
case and co-author of the state's medical marijuana law, vowed to keep his
club open until he is "dragged" from his four-story downtown complex.

"Its a double-barreled assault," Peron said. "Essentially, they are
slapping the voters of California in the face."

In November 1996, California voters passed Proposition 215, the medical
marijuana initiative, which essentially legalized the possession of
marijuana by the seriously ill and their caregivers.

But marijuana remains completely illegal under federal law. In the past
year, pot growers in Los Angeles and Siskiyou County who claimed to be
growing for medical use have been indicted in federal courts.

Since Proposition 215 passed, about 20 of the "cannabis clubs" have sprung
up across the state -- many with the tacit support of local law enforcement
- -- as a practical way to distribute the plant to patients who can't grow it
themselves and would otherwise be forced to go to the black market to
obtain the drug.

Until now, federal officials had largely left the clubs alone.

Yamaguchi has yet to file criminal charges against San Francisco's Flower
Therapy Club, where federal agents seized more than 300 plants in April. He
also declined to take action against the Cannabis Cultivators Club after a
raid a few months before the proposition passed.

Michael Vitiello, a professor at McGeorge School of Law who has studied the
issue, said the clubs have taken hold largely because state officials did
not provide practical guidelines for implementing the law after it passed.

"Californians have said they want the sick to be able to get marijuana,"
Vitiello said. "The problem is, no one has thought very hard about how they
are to get it."

Copyright © 1997 The Sacramento Bee