200 Pot Growers Agree to Supply Cannabis Club
State, county officials pledge to prosecute under drug laws

Dan Levy, Chronicle Staff Writer

In a new effort to test the legal limits of last year's
successful medical marijuana initiative, about 200 pot
growers in California have signed a deal to supply San
Francisco's Cannabis Cultivators Club with thousands of
pounds of highquality dope.

San Francisco club officials said the agreements, reached
over the past two months between the group and independent
pot growers in Mendocino, Humboldt and other northern
counties, will provide its 4,000 members with marijuana that
is cheaper than what they currently use to help relieve
pain.

State and local law enforcement authorities immediately
announced that cannabis club ``contracts'' will not shield
pot growers from prosecution under drug laws.

Mendocino County Sheriff Jim Tuso yesterday released details
of a huge marijuana seizure in Boonville last month. The
total take of 108,918 plants was the largest pot bust in
county history.

``It's business as usual,'' said Humboldt County Sheriff's
Sergeant Steve Knight. ``We've been instructed from our
district attorney that a contract with the San Francisco
cannabis club is not going to prevent us from taking the
marijuana and arresting the person for cultivation or
possession for sale.''

With the statewide passage of Proposition 215 in November,
marijuana use for medical purposes was decriminalized. The
measure also allowed cannabis to be grown by the ``primary
caregiver,'' who may then give the marijuana to sick people
and still be exempt from prosecution.

The language of the cannabis club contracts ``assign''
caregiver rights to pot growers, who are restricted to a
49plant yield. The club is planning to reimburse the
growers for production costs.

Yesterday, the club said demand for medical marijuana is
skyrocketing. Another 4,000 patients with maladies
ranging from cancer and AIDS to ``anxiety'' and ``stomach
aches'' are expected to join the club within the next two
months, said legislative advocate John Entwistle.

Entwistle downplayed the harsh reaction from law enforcement
officials in Mendocino and Humboldt.

``To the extent that some grower decides to use this
contract as a shield to peddle marijuana irresponsibly, I
say `hang 'em,' '' Entwistle said. ``But I think the sheriff
might benefit from coming to the club to see our members.
He'd be moved by the humanity of their situation and the
enormity of their need.''

Legal experts said the contracts are treading in a gray area
of the law.

``Having such contracts is clearly pushing the envelope,''
said Allen St. Pierre, deputy director of Washington, D.C.'s
National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws . ``I
think the people of California voted to give doctors the
authority to recommend cannabis to sick or dying persons.''

Dave Fratello, spokesman for Americans for Medical Rights in
Santa Monica, the group that sponsored Proposition 215, said
the move was simply a way to publicly address how the
marijuana is to be supplied to patients and cannabis clubs.

``This looks like an effort to bring the supply above
ground, and we applaud that'' Fratello said. ``For people
who have a problem with these contracts, we advise them to
lean on the federal government to reschedule marijuana.''

Pot is currently classified along with heroin and LSD as a
Schedule I drug, regarded as having no medical use.
Fratello's group advocates moving it to Schedule II, with
drugs such as cocaine and morphine, that do have a medical
use.

State Attorney General Dan Lungren, who achieved widespread
attention when his agents busted the San Francisco club last
year, was not available for comment.