SR MEDICAL MARIJUANA CLUB LEAVES NEIGHBORS FUMING

It goes by names like Skywalker, Afghan Skunk and Trainwreck and sells for
about $45 for an eighth-ounce bag.

The pungent marijuana is offered at the Resource Green Caregivers and
Patient Group, a Santa Rosa club where volunteers say pot is good for what
ails its 2,400 customers, whether it's AIDS, cancer or just a severe case
of the blues.

The Sonoma Avenue club -- one of three in Santa Rosa -- has built a steady
following in the 10 months since it opened, in part through a reputation
for potent weed at reasonable prices.

However, neighbors say the club's popularity is nothing to celebrate. Cars
clog the street outside its steel-gated doors and people smoke joints in
nearby yards, Rayburn Killion said.

Killion said the place appears to be frequented most by healthy
twenty-something customers, who often resell pot to people waiting outside,
play loud music or urinate in the bushes.

"It's just a zoo," said Janice Spotswood, Killion's girlfriend, who went to
City Hall with him Tuesday to complain. "The police told us they're
directed not to do anything about it."

Others in the Luther Burbank Gardens neighborhood, including contractor
Erick Rudy, said they were shocked to learn the city had licensed a
business to sell marijuana so close to Juilliard Park and Burbank
Elementary School.

"I don't like my kids walking through a group of 15 people smoking pot,"
said Rudy, who also made the trip to City Hall. "We're trying to make this
a family area."

City officials said pot clubs are entitled to business licenses.

Resource Green Chief Executive Officer Ken Haus said he sells only to
people with prescriptions and valid club memberships.

"We have a lot of very sick people who use this place as a refuge," he said.

Smoking at the club is prohibited. A sign in the sales room warns that
those who try to sell their pot to others will be barred from buying again.

The club sells to up to 200 people a day, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., a manager
said.

Haus said he'd hired guards to help with street traffic. But he conceded
there isn't much he can do once customers leave. He's canceled memberships
of 10 to 20 people, he said.

He said problems with the club are overblown by neighbors who don't believe
in marijuana's medicinal benefits.

"During Prohibition, I'm sure there were people who didn't like the new bar
on the corner," Haus said. "This is no different than a Piggly Wiggly or
anything else."

Californians legalized marijuana for medical use in 1996 with the approval
of Proposition 215.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the authority of the Drug
Enforcement Administration to shut pot clubs, they have sprung up all over
the Bay Area. In addition to Resource Green, located across Santa Rosa
Avenue from City Hall, there are clubs on West Steele Lane and Montgomery
Drive.

The DEA has shut at least seven Sonoma County clubs [not true, only one in
Santa Rosa -DG], but Santa Rosa Police Lt. Ed Hemphill said local police
have made no visits to Resource Green for marijuana-related complaints.

Another case is pending before the Supreme Court, which has been asked to
determine whether federal agents can arrest people for growing their own
marijuana for medical use.

Federal law prohibits the use of marijuana for any purpose.

Brien Farrell, Santa Rosa's city attorney, said the city isn't likely to
impose sanctions on Resource Green, but complaints about customers could
lead to policy changes.

He said the City Council will consider a moratorium on new pot clubs and an
ordinance that regulates the number and location. The council could act in
60 days, Farrell said.

Because the clubs are relatively new, Farrell was uncertain how the law
would apply.

Public sentiment seems to favor them, he said.

"I don't think Sonoma County jurors are enforcement minded when it comes to
marijuana possession cases," Farrell said.

District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua promised in his 2002 campaign that he
would not pursue medical pot cases.

Brian Wims, a 44-year-old Sonoma County AIDS patient and Resource Green
customer, said he hopes that doesn't change any time soon.

As he walked with a cane Tuesday outside Resource Green, Wims said
marijuana was as good as any medication he has taken for pain and side effects.

Ready access to marijuana is "a godsend to me," he said.

Another customer, George Cree of Santa Rosa, said most people obey the rules.

Cree, who has a degenerated disk in his back, said he was buying a $20 bag
of marijuana last week when a neighbor accused him of bumping her car.

He said he didn't.

"I'm not sure what they're complaining about," he said.

But Killion said the problems are real. He's videotaped people smoking pot
in his driveway and throwing bottles out of moving cars.

Killion, a Santa Rosa lawyer, said Resource Green violates the law by
selling pot.

According to the statute, certified users can grow pot for their own use or
get it from a primary caregiver, he said.

"I voted for Prop. 215," Killion said. "But I didn't vote for wholesale
drug trafficking in my neighborhood."