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.