SAN JOSE POT CLINIC TO STAY OPEN

San Jose officials say a court decision barring the sale of medical
marijuana will not affect the city's only cannabis dispensary.

San Jose City Attorney Joan Gallo says the Santa Clara County Cannabis
Center is different from the controversial Cannabis Buyers Club in San
Francisco because it fits a medical model, similar to a pharmacy. Gallo
told the San Francisco Chronicle that it is possible for the center to
distribute marijuana in accordance with state law. Gallo says, "I think San
Francisco's club is much more of a social model, where people come to smoke
marijuana together and where there have been children on the premises. We
have controls and a regulatory program it is very different."

Friday's California Court of Appeal decision says the San Francisco
Cannabis Club does not meet the criteria for a "primary caregiver" under
Proposition 215, which was approved by voters in November 1996.

Matt Ross, spokesman for state Attorney General Dan Lungren, told the
newspaper that the court decision affirms Lungren's belief about
Proposition 215. Ross says the measure only legalized a physician's right
to recommend use, a user's right to grow his own medical marijuana and the
ability for a designated caregiver to grow marijuana for a sick patient.
Ross says Lungren is drafting a bulletin to law enforcement agencies to
advise them about how to interpret the new rules.

Copyright 1997 by United Press International. All rights reserved.