MARIJUANA 'CLUBS' GAINING GROUND IN ARIZONA

PHOENIX -- You could soon have a marijuana club down the block or
around the corner.

An entrepreneur in the state's nascent medical marijuana industry has
found what he believes is a loophole in the law that restricts the
distribution of the drug to just 125 specially licensed dispensaries.
Allan Sobol already has opened his first club in North Phoenix and has
plans with his business partners to expand elsewhere.

But the exception Sobol has found means more than the possibility of
these clubs showing up in every strip mall. It also gets around the
fact that health officials are refusing to even accept applications
for those who want to operate one of those limited number of heavily
regulated dispensaries.

The move has not gone unnoticed by state Health Director Will Humble.
He is asking the Attorney General's Office to investigate whether
these clubs are little more than thinly disguised places where
marijuana is being sold illegally.

Sobol, however, said he is unconcerned. In fact, he told Capitol Media
Services he would welcome a court challenge.

"We'll win,' he said.

The voter-approved law allows anyone with a doctor's recommendation to
obtain a state-issued card allowing the purchase of up to 2 1/2 ounces
of marijuana every two weeks from a state-licensed dispensary. It also
permits cardholders to grow their own if they are at least 25 miles
from an outlet.

Humble, after consulting with Gov. Jan Brewer, decided in May not to
even take applications for the dispensaries until a federal judge
decides whether Arizona can implement its law despite federal statutes
making possession, sale and distribution of the drug a felony. And of
the 7,570 patient applications already approved, 6,067 have state
permission to cultivate.

Where Sobol comes in relates to a little-known provision of the law
which allows one certified patient or caregiver to give marijuana to
another "if nothing of value is transferred in return.'

That is the model of the Arizona Compassion Association, a non-profit
corporation which gives away samples which are donated by patients who
have grown more than they need or have given the association the right
to grow on their behalf.

Only thing is, you have to belong to Sobol's 2811 Club -- so named for
the section of law dealing with giving away marijuana -- to get access
to the association and its free marijuana. And that requires paying a
fee.

The cost to get into one of the largest, the 2811 Club in north
Phoenix, is $75 each time, or $700 annually. And that has gotten
Humble's attention.

"They're using a shell game to make it appear that nothing of value
has exchanged,' he said.

Sobol said that's not the case.

He said the fees pay for everything from the building security and
staff to the classes on growing marijuana that are free for members.

Those fees, he said, also pay for testing and grading the
marijuana.

But it is more complex than that.

Sobol acknowledged that his company does make donations to the
non-profit organization. And he said that organization, in turn, can
legally reimburse growers for their costs, like the purchase of
hydroponic equipment, though he said growers cannot charge for their
time and labor.

"I'm not a lawyer,' Humble said. "But on its surface, to me it looks
like it very well could be an illegal transaction.'

So far, though, Phoenix police do not appear concerned. Sobol said
several officers showed up to check the place out, hear his
description of the operation and went away, apparently satisfied.

Humble said even if this concept of a marijuana club is not a crime,
this kind of operation may be beyond what the medical marijuana law
anticipated.

"They're using a shell game to make it appear that nothing of value
has been exchanged when, in fact, something of value has been
exchanged,' he said.

The samples are not large, running about three grams -- slightly more
than a tenth of an ounce.

But this isn't your mother's marijuana, with the psychoactive
ingredient running into the 15-plus percent range, far above the 1 to
3 percent stuff available in the 1960s. So it doesn't take much to get
the same effect.

The resolution of the legal issues Humble is raising will determine
whether marijuana clubs could be sprouting up all over the state.

Under the voter-approved measure, there is a limit of one dispensary
for each 10 pharmacies in the state. That currently computes out to
125.

Humble's agency has decided to spread those out among each of the
health planning districts which are roughly divided by population.

The law also permits cities and counties to enact "reasonable zoning
restrictions' to limit where dispensaries can be located.

Several communities have limited these operations to specific
industrial or commercial zones. And there also are requirements which
keep them a certain distance from schools and churches.

But Sobol has his business classified as a school, based on the
classes that are offered there. That escapes all the other zoning
requirements, allowing clubs to operate anywhere a school can be
established.

Sobol said even if Humble's agency eventually starts licensing
dispensaries, the clubs are likely to multiply because of the
advantages in operating that way.

The concept of marijuana clubs is not the only way Sobol is testing
the limits of the law.

Under the terms of the statute, anyone with permission to cultivate
for self-use can grow up to 12 plants at any one time. But Sobol said
someone with a medical marijuana card and the right to grow is
entitled to assign that right to another patient or a designated
state-licensed caregiver.

Caregivers, in turn, can provide for the needs of up to five patients.
That means growing 60 plants at a time -- 72 if the caregiver also is
a patient.

Sobol said members of his club are told of their option to designate
that right to the Arizona Compassion Club which then finds qualified
individuals to each grow 72 plants, marijuana that eventually finds
its way onto the shelves in the sample bottles.