Pot Club Operators Threaten To Go on Fast

Maria Alicia Gaura, Chronicle South Bay Bureau

Claiming that San Jose's marijuana laws are putting them out of
business, two directors of the city's only medical marijuana
dispensary yesterday threatened to begin a hunger strike unless the
city amends its rules.

Peter Baez and Jesse Garcia announced that they will begin fasting,
and also suspend their medical treatments for AIDS and cancer, unless
the city dumps the rule requiring them to grow all their marijuana
inside their tiny Meridian Avenue office.

``If the chief of police and the mayor tell us absolutely no, and
order us to stop (distributing marijuana), Jesse will stop taking his
AIDS antiviral medication, and I will stop my chemotherapy
(treatment for colon cancer),'' Baez said.

State voters approved the medical use of marijuana in November with
the passage of Proposition 215, and San Jose made national news when
it became the first city in the United States to regulate and license
medical marijuana dispensaries.

But Baez and Garcia, who helped draw up the San Jose laws and say
they have complied with most of its provisions, now say the city's
insistence that they grow marijuana onsite is impossible to meet.
They also want the city to change the part of the law that allows
police to search patients' medical records at any time, without a
search warrant.

The Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Club is now operating outside
the law, Garcia said, and will continue to do so if the law is not
changed. Garcia and Baez now buy marijuana from a San Francisco
grower, take it to their San Jose office and distribute it to about
150 patients whose doctors have recommended marijuana use.

``I confess it,'' Garcia said. ``I transport it, and I use it. I have to
get it from
somewhere.''

City officials are willing to talk about changes in the law, but they are
making no
guarantees.

``We want to make it clear that an ordinance is in place, and we
expect it to be followed to the letter,'' said Kevin Pursglove, a
spokesman for Mayor Susan Hammer.

Police spokesman John Carillo said law enforcement will continue to work
with the
marijuana club.

``Chief (Louis) Cobarruviaz understands the spirit behind the law,
but we can only proceed so fast,'' Carillo said. ``We understand
their frustrations, and we have similar ones. We are not giving up on
this.''

The San Jose club, which law enforcement officials have described in
the past as ``squeaky clean,'' now distributes marijuana to patients
suffering from a variety of illnesses. Baez says he has complied with
``90 percent'' of the city's requirements, and yesterday morning
appeared at a court hearing for a man charged with attempting to pass
a forged prescription for marijuana.

Andrew Poltorak, 44, pleaded no contest to a charge of forgery
yesterday after Municipal Court Judge Alfonso Fernandez dropped the
charge from a felony to a misdemeanor. Baez urged the judge not to
reduce the charge, saying that a soft approach would encourage more
forgers. Baez said that since Poltorak's arrest, he has reported two
other people to police for trying to pass phony doctor's notes at his
club.

c The Chronicle Publishing Company