HORNE ASKS JUDGE TO SHUT DOWN ARIZONA 'MARIJUANA CLUBS'

PHOENIX -- Calling them illegal drug dealers, Attorney General Tom
Horne asked a judge on Monday to shut down the "marijuana clubs' that
are opening up around the state.

In legal papers filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, Horne said
the medical marijuana law that voters approved last November has no
provision for the kind of clubs where members, after paying a fee, can
get access to free drugs. More to the point, he said the exceptions in
the law that club owners say permit what they do does not exist.

But the clubs are expected to fight back. In fact, Allan Sobol, an
owner of one of the larger operations in Phoenix, already has filed
his own lawsuit against Horne and state Health Director Will Humble
seeking a declaration that the clubs can keep their doors open.

Hanging in the balance is whether the nearly 8,700 individuals who
have been given the legal permission to obtain marijuana for medical
reasons have a place to obtain it -- other than growing their own.

The initiative permits those who have both a doctor's recommendation
and a state issued ID card to obtain 2 1/2 ounces of the drug every
two weeks.

As originally conceived, sales would be made from about 125
state-licensed dispensaries. But health officials are not accepting
applications amid concerns by Horne and Gov. Jan Brewer that state
employees could be prosecuted under federal laws which make it a crime
even to facilitate someone obtaining marijuana.

A federal court lawsuit over that issue is pending.

In the meantime, the law does permit those with marijuana ID cards to
grow their own. They also are entitled to name a state-certified
medical marijuana caregivers to grow the marijuana for them.

It is that provision has led to the creation of the
club.

What Sobol and others have done is set up an arrangement with
non-profit organizations whose members include people who are licensed
as care providers. Patients then delegate that growing right to the
organizations.

The marijuana grown by these caregivers then is made available,
without cost, to anyone who asks.

What has gained Horne's attention is that the only place the
organizations give away what they grow is within the walls of places
like Sobol's 2811 Club. And only members -- those who pay $75 a visit
or $700 a year -- can get in.

Horne said the law does allow one person with a medical marijuana card
to give the drug to another cardholder.

"But it doesn't allow them to do it for compensation,' he
said.

"The right to grow belongs to the person who has the card who needs
treatment,' Horne explained. "That person can't delegate that to a
company that specializes in growing marijuana and selling it for a
profit.'

Sobol disputed that description of his operation.

"The 2811 Club is not distributing marijuana, is not selling it, we're
not giving it away for free,' he said. "We're just the venue, we're
just the building people come to.'

Sobol did acknowledge that his club does make voluntary contributions
to the nonprofit organization to help it defray its costs. But he said
there is no link between those donations and the amount of marijuana
given away.

He said the nonprofit association located inside his club chooses to
be there because he provides security and screens entrants to ensure
that only legitimate medical marijuana cardholders get in the door.

Horne was unimpressed by that distinction.

"That reminds of the pornographic movies where they give a sentence
from the Constitution (in the script) so they can say it has redeeming
social value' and therefore legally protected.

"It's not real,' Horne continued. "The compensation is to belong to
the club to share the marijuana and we regard it as illegal.'

No date has been set for a hearing. But Sobol promised to have 500
club members ready to testify that neither he nor his club is
distributing marijuana.