Cannabis Club Jeopardized In San Jose
Group told to grow its own

Carolyne Zinko, Chronicle South Bay Bureau

A San Jose pot dispensary is facing an unusual Catch22:
Volunteers can't ship in the herb for sale, and they can't
grow it, either.

Police want the Santa Clara County Medical Marijuana Center
to grow it at their headquarters on Meridian Avenue in
central San Jose because transportation of marijuana is
illegal under state law.

But volunteers at the center say that will put them out of
business and leave patients suffering because their
onestory office building is illsuited for such greenthumb
efforts.

They say they have complied with other stringent security
measures imposed by police such as window bars, fences and
alarm systems and agreed to audits of their books.

Now, they want the city to follow the lead of Oakland and
Fairfax, which wink at the state law and allow marijuana
grown elsewhere to be distributed.

They've started a petition drive and also are threatening
legal action if the city doesn't yield to their demands.

``It started out being a casual yet structured atmosphere
and now it's turning into Fort Knox,'' said Dr. Dennis
Augustine, medical director for the center. ``We shouldn't
have to be forced to become horticulturists.''

So far, the city's regulations have not stopped the club
which set up shop in March from dispensing marijuana
grown elsewhere. Technically, volunteers should not be doing
so because a special use permit granted by the city early
this month still needs the formal approval of the property
owner, San Jose planning officials said.

Police Sergeant Scott Savage, surprised to learn the center
was dispensing pot, said the department will look into any
apparent illegalities. The department will stand fast behind
the regulations developed in consultation with the county
district attorney's office and designed to bolster an
ordinance by the city council, he said.

``When Proposition 215 was written, they failed to take into
account transportation,'' Savage said. ``They're going to
have to grow it onsite.''

In other Bay Area cities, police have tacitly ignored the
production, transportation and use of medical marijuana
since the passage of Proposition 215. The initiative last
November legalized pot for people with physicians'
recommendations.

Oakland's City Council on July 3 adopted a resolution
directing the city and police department to give low
priority to the investigation and arrest of those involved
in cultivation, manufacture or transportation of medical
marijuana products.

Such a move could happen in San Jose, but ``I don't know if
it will, and I don't know anyone who is pushing for it,''
said Bill Hughes, an assistant city attorney for San Jose.

In Fairfax, the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana
developed a plan supported by police to grow marijuana on a
17acre plot owned by a patient and ship it to the club,
said Robert Raich, a legal adviser for several cannabis
clubs across the state.

Some medical marijuana advocates believe growing onsite or
at a main plot elsewhere are tidy solutions. But Raich
believes multiple harvest sources are needed to prevent loss
of an entire crop to federal raids, insects or fungus and
low yields that could leave patients in the lurch.

Jeff Jones, executive director for the Oakland Cannabis
Buyer's Cooperative, sees another danger with growing pot
onsite: crime.

``This stuff is worth more than gold now. Some armed thug is
going to shoot them and take their stuff if information
(gets) to the general public that they're cultivating enough
for their membership.''

Most cannabis clubs keep their growers' identities
confidential, he said.

Volunteers at the San Jose center are now looking into
hydroponic technology to make the most of their office
space, figuring they're stuck with the twoyear,
$1,150amonth lease signed before police finished writing
their regulations.

Augustine estimates the cost of hydroponics equipment, which
would provide the highest crop yield in the indoor space, a
fulltime grower and support staff could amount to $25,000 a
year or more.

Such money woes are forcing a public appeal for donations,
he said, and are interfering with his goal of making the
center a source of information for physicians, hospice
centers and community groups.

``What we're doing is the very essence of medicine: saving
lives and alleviating suffering,'' Augustine said. ``My
feeling is that Hippocrates himself would have prescribed
this.''