GOVERNMENT MOVES TO CLOSE MARIJUANA CLUBS

MEDICINE: Six associations in Northern California are named in civil suits
filed by the U.S. attorney

San Francisco - The federal government renewed its battle against the
state's medical marijuana law Friday,moving to shut down six marijuana
buyers' clubs in Northern California.

U.S. Attorney Michael Yamaguchi filed civil suits seeking to halt operation
of the clubs - two in San Francisco and one each in Oakland, southern Marin
County, Santa Cruz and Ukiah - for violations of federal laws against the
possession, cultivation and distribution of marijuana.

"The issue is not the medical use of marijuana. It is the persistent
violation of federal law," Yamaguchi said at a news conference. He said the
civil suits, which target only the clubs and their operators and not
individual patients, were a "measured approach" short of criminal charges.

Undercover drug agents had bought marijuana at each club and had seen
purchases by other customers, according to court papers.

Most of the clubs were started after the November 1996 passage of
Proposition 215, which changed state law to allow patients suffering from
cancer, AIDS, glaucoma or a variety of other illnesses to possess and grow
marijuana for medical use, with a doctor's recommendation.

But at least one, now called the Cannabis Cultivators Club, has operated
for years in San Francisco, with the tacit approval of local law
enforcement. In fact, Yamaguchi's office declined to file criminal charges
against the club in 1996, before Prop.215 passed, determining that the
level of drug-dealing was too minor to justify federal involvement.

Around the same time, state Attorney General Dan Lungren's office raided
the club, had it closed by a judge and obtained a grand jury indictment
against its leaders, including founder and Prop. 215 sponsor Dennis Peron,
on charges of selling and transporting marijuana.

Another judge let the Cultivators Club reopen after Prop. 215 passed,
saying it could qualify as a "caregiver" that could legally supply
marijuana to thousands of members. But a state appeals court overturned the
ruling last month and said selling marijuana remains illegal. Peron plans
to appeal to the state Supreme Court on Monday.

Lungren welcomes Yamaguchi's action, said spokesman Rob Stutzman.
"Yamaguchi has gone a long way toward clarifying how federal laws will have
a real impact upon so-called marijuana clubs," Stutzman said.

Marvin Chavez, a founder of the Cannabis Co-op of Orange County, criticized
Lungren and other state officials for going along with the federal action.

"The state government is not protecting the people," Chavez said. "They're
letting the federal government come in here and tell us what to do. The
voters have spoken." Chavez contends that his group does not sell
marijuana, but distributes it to patients in return for "voluntary donations."

"What do you think people are going to do when they shut down these clubs?"
he asked. "Where are these patients going to go? Right back into the black
market."

Peron, who is running against Lungren for the Republican nomination for
governor, told reporters that the federal government was "defying the
people of California."

"First they threatened the doctors, now they're threatening the patients,"
he said, referring to the Clinton administration's initial threat to act
against doctors who prescribed marijuana. Peron said federal courts should
respect the state law - but if a shutdown is ordered, "we are going to go
perfectly limp and be carried away" rather than cooperate.