THE NEW YORK TIMES NATIONAL

Monday, January 13, 1997

WITH JUDGE'S APPROVAL, MARIJUANA CLUB IS SET TO BLOOM AGAIN

By The New York Times

San Francisco, Jan.9 - A day after judge ruled that the embattled Cannabis Buyers' Club of San Francisco could reopen for business,

Dennis Peron, the club's founder and the state's most vocal marijuana advocate, sucked in his fill of pungent smoke from a glowing pipe and smiled.

I'm gloating," said Mr. Peron, surrounded by a half-dozen or so supporters smoking similarly stoked pipes. "Isn't democracy great?"

On Wednesday, Judge David A. Garcia of San Francisco Superior Court, ruled that the club, the nation's largest distributor of marijuana fro medical use, could provide the drug to its members under provision of Proposition 215, the recently passed California voter initiative that legalized the cultivation and use of marijuana to ease the symptoms or serious illnesses.

The club has been closed since a raid last August by state drug agents, prompted by complains that healthy and underage patrons were buying marijuana. Six of the club's organizers, including Mr. Peron, were charged with conspiracy and possession and sale of marijuana.

In his decision, Judge Garcia said Proposition 215 forced him to let

the club resume operations.

"I don't think you or I are going to say that the people of California were totally ineffectual in trying to pass a medical marijuana law," Judge Garcia told a packed courtroom. He reiterated that the club was not to operate at a profit and that members' medical conditions must be verified by their doctors.

State law-enforcement officials stressed that the ruling had no effect on the prosecution of Mr. Peron and his co-defendants and suggested that the ruling would be appealed.

"We think the case is an excellent vehicle for the state's appellate courts to provide some guidance," said Steve Telliano, spokesman for Attorney General Daniel E. Lungren, a principal opponent of Proposition 215. Mr. Telliano also said that the club would be closely monitored to make sure it abided by state and Federal law and the proposition which requires a doctor's recommendation for the use of marijuana.

"It's not going to be like McDonald's - it's going to be very tightly controlled," he said.

The initiative, which passed with 56 percent of the vote, was one of two ballot measures, along with a broader one in Arizona, that were approved in November. Medical marijuana clubs, in New York and elsewhere, have been heartened by the measures, but the Federal Government has pledged to clamp down on the medical use of marijuana.

Immediately after the judge's announcement, Mr. Peron announced that the club, which claims some 12,000 members, and which will be renamed the Cannabis Cultivators Club, would reopen on Wednesday.

"It's like a family reunion," Mr. Peron said. "Just give me seven days to decorate."

But while the club's organizers buoyantly predicted that they would be fully operational within a couple of weeks, there were signs that a recent Justice Department warning to doctors who prescribe marijuana had had a chilling effect.

"In past years, I supported this, I saw it work," said Dr. Richard Cohen, an oncologist at California Pacific Medical Center, who said he used to recommend marijuana to relieve pain and stimulate the appetite. "But the Federal Government says I can't do it, so I can't do it."

The club's founders say they established the club in 1992 to distribute marijuana to terminally ill patients, but that over time the club's policy was expanded to include patients with nonfatal ailments like migraine headaches or epilepsy.

Prospective members had to provide evidence of their diagnosis, usually a note from their doctor, which the club verified. Members could buy and consume a variety of marijuana products. including brownies, breads, and several grades of the drug. Mr. Peron says that the club had been distributing about 100 pounds of marijuana a week.