PrimeNews

FATE OF CANNABIS BUYERS CLUB

Aired December 13, 1997 8:04 p.m. ET

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: California voters said yes, but the courts say
no. As a result, clubs in the Golden State that sell marijuana for medical
uses may soon be forced to close.

CNN's Rusty Dornin reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): A memorial for one of the
founding members of the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club. As members
mourned his death, they also worry that the club he worked hard to open
will be forced to close its doors by the order of a California appeals court.

DENIS PERON, CANNABIS BUYERS CLUB: They say the cannabis clubs are illegal,
and yet they give us no alternatives or avenue for these people to get
marijuana. The people of California voted that they want people to get
marijuana.

DORNIN: Voters passed a medical marijuana initiative in 1996, but according
to California law, you can't sell pot for any reason. Members of socalled
"pot clubs" now can buy medical marijuana with a recommendation from their
doctor.

DAN LUNGREN, STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL, CALIFORNIA: Cannabis Buyer's Clublike
activities are not allowed under the law. The law was not changed by
Proposition 215. Remember, all the laws against marijuana are still in
existence.

DORNIN: State Attorney General Dan Lungren said that when the medical
marijuana proposition was passed, California voters had no idea what they
were getting into.

LUNGREN: Had the people of the state of California known they were voting
to establish Cannabis Buyer's Clublike operations around the state, they
probably would have defeated this proposition.

DORNIN: The law allows marijuana to be given by a primary caregiver.
Supporters of the club argued that's exactly what they were. State
officials say that's like saying a street dealer who provides a bodyguard
is a caregiver.

MORTY ORTON, AIDS PATIENT: We just have to convince the government to cut
us some slack and give us a break. We are sick people, and this is medicine.

DORNIN: The court decision claimed people who aren't sick still bought pot
at the clubs, and that it was also resold on the streets.

(on camera): The court ordered cannabis clubs like this one to close in 30
days. The state attorney general says he hopes they will do it voluntarily.
The folks here say no way.

PERON: I'm not going to close the doors. They can put me in prison. They
can put me in jail.

DORNIN: Which is exactly what state officials say they are prepared to do.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

© 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.