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Home , Ed Rosenthal, Emerald Triangle, Hemp, White Widow (Cannabis)

—24— O’Shaughnessy’s • Winter/Spring 2007 The Decade of the Club By Dale Gieringer, PhD Nothing has done more to advance bers. He denounced Peron for serving as the federal govern- the availability of medical non-medical users and ignoring standard ment dug in its heels than the advent of so-called “cannabis procedures for non-profit organizations. and fought to frustrate buyers’ clubs.” While state medical “The only ‘haphazard... for profit’ buy- any move to legiti- marijuana laws like ’s Prop ers’ club in the state is the high-flying mize medical mari- 215 have relieved the legal jeopardy of Market Street circus,” Imler wrote to the juana. On December users, they have not Chronicle. 30, 1996, Drug Czar created a legal distribution system to Barry Mc-Caffrey actually deliver the medicine. The 1996 Generation joined Attorney Gen- The first true distribution system The Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Co- eral Janet Reno and arose when Dennis Peron established operative was originally started as a de- HHS Secretary Donna the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers livery service by Jeff Jones, Matt Quirk Shalala in denouncing Club in the summer of 1993. Modeled and Andrew Glazier. In March, 1996, Prop. 215 as contrary loosely on Amsterdam’s coffee houses, the Oakland City Council approved a to federal law. Given Line outside S.F. Cannabis Buyers Club when it reopened the club sold marijuana to anyone with resolution endorsing medical marijuana, the prospect of federal in January, 1997, reflects pent-up demand by medical cannabis users. It had been closed since an Aug. 4 raid by a doctor’s note showing medical need. and in particular commending the ac- opposition, state legis- It claimed legitimacy based on a popular tivities of the OCBC. On July 4, the state narcotics agents. The Oakland Cannabis Buyers Co- lators were reluctant to operative and new clubs in the city stepped into the breach. initiative passed by city voters in 1991 OCBC formally opened to the public in attempt to create a legal — “Proposition P”— that instructed an upper-floor office at 1755 Broadway. distribution system. picture of its indoor garden. The message local law enforcement to not arrest and Under the leadership of clean-cut Jeff McCaffrey and Reno threatened to became clear that clubs were at risk if prosecute medical mariuana users. Jones, the OCBC continued to make a penalize doctors who recommended they had gardens onsite. The result was The SFCBC launched a movement. favorable impression on public officials. marijuana by suspending their fed- to force gardens underground and keep In 1992, Santa Cruz became the second In addition to providing cannabis, the eral prescription-writing licenses. This prices at black-market levels. county to approve a medical marijuana OCBC issued photo ID cards so that would have been a terrible blow to Prop With few exceptions, clubs had to initiative, Measure A. Activists had members didn’t have to carry their doc- 215 had it not been for a lawsuit by rely on a network of underground grow- rallied around Valerie Corral, who suc- tors’ letter of approval on their person. Marcus Conant, MD, and co-plaintiffs ers, some with small gardens or co-ops, cessfully battled criminal charges for (OCBC staff would phone the doctor’s (including Valerie Corral) which won a others with industrial warehouses. Thus cultivating marijuana to control her office to confirm the applicant’s status federal injunction protecting the right of an enduring illegal taint was left on the severe epilepsy. In the Spring of 1993 as a patient.) In time the OCBC cards doctors and patients to discuss marijuana medical marijuana market. Corral and her husband, Mike, expanded came to be accepted by Oakland police, as a treatment option. Proponents continued to explore their home garden, located on remote as well as by many other cannabis clubs In the heady days immediately after ways of providing medical marijuana le- property in the Santa Cruz mountains, lacking the resources to develop their the election, many activists sought to fol- gally within the strictures of federal law. to provide for a growing circle of own ID system low Den-nis’s example. Some who did However, all such efforts were doomed mostly terminally ill people. The Corrals In August 1996, California Bureau of so were surprised to find that local law by the DEA’s refusal to issue the required organized the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Narcotics agents raided the San Fran- enforcement was not as tolerant as in San permits under the Controlled Substances Medical Marijuana (WAMM), the first cisco CBC, taking cash, marijuana, and Francisco. Scores of growers were ar- Act. The DEA turned down permit medical marijuana cultivation collective records on more than 11,000 members rested for marijuana cultivation that they applications from Robert Schmidt, in California. Members would take —while carefully leaving the campaign mistakenly believed to be legal because proprietor of the Genesis 1:29 club in turns tending the crop or doing other office intact. it was for medical use by others. Zealous Petaluma, and Johann Stahl, a prospec- chores, in return for which they received prosecutors could short-circuit any hope tive farmer in Mendocino. a share of the medicine. In a pattern that would be of a Prop 215 defense by turning a case An alternative to DEA-licensed WAMM eschewed buying or selling repeated, the raid did not put over to their federal counterparts. grows was proposed by San Mateo marijuana, thereby avoiding the taint In Placer County, Bill and Peggy Rid- Supervisor Mike Nevin, who suggested of the illicit market. It served only the an end to cannabis clubs, but dick, both in their 60s, were convicted having the county hospital distribute most seriously ill patients. It attended to rather caused their profusion on federal charges after claiming that marijuana that had been confiscated by the health and welfare of its members elsewhere. the several hundred plants they were the police. This alternative was rejected through social, medical and spiritual growing were for Peron’s club; they due to the irregular quality and doubtful services. were sentenced to 30 months in prison. purity of illicit cannabis. In January 1995, Scott Imler, an ac- In a pattern that would be repeated, the raid did not put an end to cannabis B.E. Smith became another Prop 215 In 2002, San Francisco voters ap- clubs, but rather caused their profu- martyr after announcing his intent to proved Proposition S, calling on the sion elsewhere. For a couple of weeks, the Trinity County Board of Supervisors city to investigate ways of establishing the Metropolitan Community Church to grow a field of medical marijuana. a legal distribution system. After much stepped in to allow emergency distribu- Smith, an outspoken Vietnam vet, was discussion, a Prop S task force failed to tion to AIDS patients. Peron’s old space arrested on federal charges and sen- find a practicable solution. at 194 Church St. was resurrected by Vic tenced to a maximum sentence of 27 Although it did not legalize distribu- Hernandez, who opened a new dispen- months by Judge Garland Burrell, who tion, Prop 215 did offer two possible sary known as CHAMP (Californians found him “beyond rehabilitation.” legal defenses for medical cannabis Helping Alleviate Medical Problems). Another victim of the federal jug- providers. First, insofar as it allowed A club in the Mission district, Flower gernaut was Bryan Epis, who along patients and caregivers to grow, it Valerie Corral of WAMM and Assembly- Therapy, was launched by John Hudson, with David Kasakove hoped to follow presumably allowed them to grow to- man John Vasconcellos at the first meeting Leslie Thomas, Beth Moore and others Peron’s example by starting a patient gether collectively. This was essentially of a task force that drafted legislation to who had worked closely with Peron. co-op garden in Chico. Epis was ar- the WAMM model. It was difficult to “clarify” Prop 215. The group’s draft, In Marin, Lynnette Shaw established rested on federal charges and sentenced implement in practice, however and revised by law enforcement lobbyists, the Marin Alliance for Medical Mari- to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to could only serve a limited number of became Senate Bill 420. juana in a comfortable, out-of-the-way grow more than 1,000 plants. Like other patients (WAMM has never exceeded federal arrestees, Epis was forbidden to 300 members). tivist who had been associated with both office in the town of Fairfax. mention medical marijuana at his trial. activist Steve McWilliams Dennis Peron and the Corrals, opened The specter of federal arrest would con- tried to emulate WAMM by establishing the Santa Cruz Cannabis Buyers’ Club. Ramifications of Prop 215 tinue to haunt medical cannabis growers, a cultivation collective known as Shelter Like the SFCBC, it sold marijuana from The new law created by Prop 215 providers and users up to the present day. from the Storm, first in Valley Center, clandestine growers to patients who explicitly protected doctors and their A group of activists committed to and then in San Diego. He was arrested could show medical need. patients, but it provided at best vague “working within the system” held a strat- three times by local police. Imler soon moved on to and tenuous moral protection for those egy session in Santa Cruz in October, A second alternative for providers to work for the Prop. 215 campaign. In who grew and distributed cannabis. 1997 The group included Scott Imler was to claim that they were “primary October ‘95, with backing from Peron, Specifically, it authorized possession and Jeff Jones, Valerie Corral, and Lynnette caregivers” for their customers. This was he established the Los Angeles for personal medical use both Shaw, myself, and about 20 others. Den- the tack preferred by Dennis Peron, who Buyers’ Cooperative on Marine Street in patients and their designated “primary nis Peron was invited but did not attend. had seen to it that Prop 215 had a broad Venice. A few months later the LACBC caregivers.” It did not explicitly change A key goal of the group was to es- definition of “caregiver.” The definition moved to West Hollywood, first on Vista the state laws banning distribution tablish sites where marijuana could be had been deliberately broadened to use street, and finally to a second-story of- and sales. It did offer a non-binding grown legally. This hope was dashed the conjunction “or” instead of “and,” so fice at 7494 Santa Monica Boulevard. declaration calling on “the federal and by the DEA, which made it clear that as to read, “The individual designated... He re-organized the LA Cannabis Buy- state governments to implement a plan it would not tolerate open gardening. who has consistently assumed responsi- ers’ Club as the LA Cannabis Resource to provide for the safe and affordable On April 21, 1997, the DEA raided bility for the housing, health, or safety Center with the intent of moving away distribution of marijuana to all patients John Hudson’s Flower Therapy club in of that person.” from underground suppliers and relying in medical need.” San Francisco, shortly after it had been As a medical marijuana provider, on grown by the club’s own mem- This exhortation proved fruitless, featured in a Chronicle article with a continued at right O’Shaughnessy’s • Winter/Spring 2007 —25—

Cannabis Clubs from previous page

Peron could argue that he fit under the up in the medipot business. In a tactic “health” category. that would be used many times again, Bob Wilson and Jane Peron was able to reopen in January, a of Marin towns —including Weirick in a store- 1997, thanks to a favorable ruling from San Rafael, Larkspur, Mill Valley, and front at B and Mis- Superior Court Judge David Garcia, Novato— passed ordinances in 1997 sion St, sold hemp who urged the SFCBC to act as a non- declaring an official moratorium on products, books and profit caregiver. Attorney General Dan medical cannabis outlets. Palo Alto and paraphernalia in the Lungren appealed Garcia’s decision and Garden Grove soon followed suit. front, with a back- in December the First District Court of room where medici- Appeals ruled that Peron had too many Despite its larger popu- nal hemp could be patients to qualify as a bona fide care- obtained and smoked. giver. After further legal wrangling, lation, Berkeley was the the SFCBC was ultimately forced to lagged conspicuously in the home of two early close its doors on May 26, 1998. Peron development of cannabis clubs. cooperatives —the moved to a farm in rural Lake County, Berkeley Cannabis Co-op, located in where he tried his hand at cultivation. Despite its larger population, South- the Long Haul Info [Within two years Dennis would be ern California lagged conspicuously in SPACE AT 350 DIVISADERO would be turned into the Shop, and the Berke- marginalized by the movement/industry the development of cannabis clubs. In Patients Resource Center by four refugees from the defunct ley Patients’ Group, he had founded. He decried the cannabis San Diego, Dion Markgraaff operated SF Cannabis Buyers Club —Wayne Justmann, Randi Webster, Gary Farnsworth, and Jane Weirick. “Finding a location and organized by AIDS club owners who were following his own the San Diego Cannabis Caregivers’ “buy low, sell high” model, many of them a landlord willing to rent to us may have been the hardest part patient Jim McClel- Club in Ocean Beach for a few months people he had trained. The feeling was of getting open,” said Justmann. land, who was suc- until being busted by police. In the state’s mutual. It often happens that the most ceeded by Cannabis Action Network largest city, Imler’s LACRC remained Flower Therapy, the Marin Alliance, the devoted followers are most resentful when director Debbie Goldsberry and Don the only club in operation. Santa Cruz CBC, and the Ukiah CBC, a the leader seeks to change course. —FG] Duncan. In 2001 Berkeley became the An ambitious attempt to set up a small group run by Cherrie Lovett and The decision in People v. Peron did first city to officially cap the number of larger-scale medical marijuana operation Marvin Lehrman. not put an end to the caregiver defense. dispensaries (at three). ended in July, 1998, when LA police ar- U.S. District Court Judge Charles It was resurrected in the case of Ken In rural areas patients were served rested cancer survivor Todd McCormick, Breyer rejected the clubs’ various de- Hayes and Mike Foley, who were ar- by more informal co-ops. In the Eastern who had been growing some 4,000 fenses and issued an injunction to close rested in May 1999 for growing 899 Sierra, Bonnie Metcalf and Steve King plants in an old Bel-Air mansion, and his them. On Oct. 20, 1998, the OCBC plants in Sonoma County. Hayes and of the Yuba Compassionate Use Col- backer, author Peter McWilliams. Both ceased distributing cannabis to its 2,200 Foley argued that they were acting as lective furnished medicine to seriously were charged federally. McWil-liams, members (while continuing to issue ID caregivers for the 1,280 patient members ill patients from their caregiver garden. suffering from AIDS and cancer, and cards and to sell hemp products and of CHAMP in San Francisco, and with Other patient groups provided support, deprived of cannabis by a court order, literature). support from testimony by SF District if not actual medicine, in Sonoma, Sac- died while awaiting trial. McCor-mick Like the attack on Peron’s club, the Attorney Terence Hallinan, were acquit- ramento, and El Dorado counties. was sentenced to prison. The defendants federal injunction proved less than a ted by the jury in 2001. With Dennis’s club gone, the new came to regard Scott Imler as a govern- fatal blow. No sooner had the OCBC In the absence of state regulations, political center for the movement be- ment informer. ceased operations than another dispen- implementation of Prop 215 depended came the San Francisco Patients’ Re- Imler organized a second providers’ sary, known as the Zoo, quietly opened a on local authorities. The Bay Area was source Center, founded by Jane Weirick, meeting in Santa Cruz in October, 1997. few doors away. Two of the six clubs in most hospitable to cannabis clubs. Oak- Wayne Justmann, Randi Webster and Attendees signed a declaration entitled the federal suit, Marin and Ukiah, con- land became an early model for success, Gary Farnsworth in 1999. The SFPRC an “Affirmation of Principles and Guide- tinued to operate despite the injunction. thanks to the efforts of Jeff Jones and the hosted regular meetings for patients and lines for Medical Cannabis Providers.” The others closed before the injunction OCBC in developing a professional and providers. During Terence Hallinan’s They called for providers to “maintain took effect. (Peron’s club closed on May responsible intake system. successful re-election campaign for Dis- lowest possible prices, maintain chari- 26th in response to a state court ruling.) whereAnother the earlyHum- success was Arcata, trict Attorney, the club hosted a debate table distribution programs for indigent CHAMP, which had been closed due boldt Cannabis between him and challenger Bill Fazio. clients, not offer on-site diagnostics or to labor-management problems when the Center won official ACT-UP, a collective of radical AIDS recommending physicians, not offer federal suit was filed, re-opened. Alto- recognition from activists, opened a club on Market St. sign-up incentives or membership pro- gether, roughly a dozen clubs continued the city. Arcata The Hemp Center (THC) on Balboa, motionals, and refrain from behavior and to operate despite the federal injunction. police chief, Mel a combined hemp goods and marijuana statements blurring lines between medi- The medical cannabis movement got Browne, cooper- store owned by Kathleen Lemons, was cal and non-medical use of marijuana.” an indirect boost on Election Day, 1998, ated by developing perhaps the first dispensary to report a The latter was a reference to a line when medical marijuana initiatives in six a photo ID system Mel Browne robbery to the police. of Dennis’s that outraged Imler and other states —Oregon, Alaska, Nevada, toThe validate city authorized patients. the HCC to share As of June 2000, there were eight pot others when it was quoted in a Washington, and the District its crop with its members and to accept clubs in San Francisco, ranging from Times article: “Peron, who lives in San of Columbia. “lawful remuneration” as caregivers. one-man hole-in-the-walls to ACT-UP, Francisco, contended that since stress On the same day, Californians elected The Center lasted a couple of years which grossed $1.6 million in its first relief is a medical purpose, too, any adult a new Attorney General, Bill Lockyer, before folding due to internal problems. year, according to the Bay Area Reporter. who uses marijuana does so for medical an avowed supporter of Prop. 215 In San Jose, efforts to replicate the reasons. ‘I believe all marijuana use is With Lungren gone, the state suddenly Oakland model encountered difficulties. Still Slow in the South medical — except for kids,’ Peron said.” seemed hospitable to implementing City officials were initially receptive to Developments continued to lag in According to Todd McCormick, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996. the efforts of Peter Baez and David Gar- the Southland, where Imler’s LACRC “Scott organized that meeting in Santa One of Lock-yer’s first actions was to cia to establish the Santa Clara County remained the only major club. A smaller Cruz and then informed the feds who remove the state Bureau of Narcotics of Medical Cannabis Center at 265 Merid- club, the Inglewood Medical Cannabis attended and what they were planning. Enforcement from medical marijuana ian Ave. They were less sympathetic to Center, founded by Paul Scott, discreetly He gave them information to get in good cases. Lockyer announced that Prop 215 the efforts of a rival entrepreneur and served a limited clientele. In San Diego, with them, which explains why his club enforcement would be left to individual established regulations that allowed an upscale club was opened in Hillcrest would be the only club in L.A. for so counties and cities. only Baez’s club to operate. The police by businesswoman Caroline Konow as many years.” Another boost, albeit temporary, department complicated the situation an avowedly for-profit enterprise; like The Santa Cruz statement was signed came on Sept. 13, 1999, when the Ninth by requiring that the club grow all its previous San Diego clubs, it was busted by 17 medical cannabis providers and 11 Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that medicine on-site. Their rationale was by the police (2001). start-up affiliates, only a few of whom the OCBC should be allowed to provide that transportation was not strictly legal Orange County, whose sheriff, Brad represented substantial operations. Not marijuana to patients with “medical ne- under Prop 215, so the club had to grow Gates, had headed the No-on-215 all providers adhered to the principles. cessity.” The decision was stayed by the its own. campaign, proved even more hostile. Many continued to host visiting hours U.S. Supreme Court in August 2000 and An appellate court soon ruled other- Authorities were quick to quash the Or- by doctors, building an important client reversed in May 2001. In the meantime, wise in the Trippet decision, which de- ange County Cannabis Co-op, a delivery base in remote areas. Prices would be however, it afforded welcome relief from clared that transportation was covered by service launched by Marvin Chavez. In a continuing sore point with many con- federal pressure. Prop 215. The city ignored the precedent the county’s first Prop 215 case, David sumers who were hard-pressed to come Yet another positive development was and the San Jose club finally folded due Herrick, a distributor for the club, was up with $50 to $60 an eighth ounce for a permanent injunction issued by a fed- to financial problems. sentenced to four years in prison for a medicinal herb that’s not difficult to eral judge in Conant v. McCaffrey bar- Elsewhere, communities moved to possessing 2 oz. of marijuana bearing grow. ring the government from prosecuting keep cannabis clubs from opening. In the club’s label. Chavez was arrested for The Federal Injunction doctors for recommending marijuana. Monterey, the sheriff quickly closed the selling to an undercover officer feign- The movement was dealt a signifi- The end of the millenium proved to Medical Marijuana Care Center, oper- ing severe pain, and ended up being cant setback on Jan. 13, 1998, when the be a halcyon period for medical canna- ated by an individual with a prior record sentenced to six years in prison without U.S. Attorney for bis. New clubs began up in for marijuana offenses. In Marin, a pair access to his medicine (1999). announced that his office was seeking communities around the Bay Area. In of entrepreneurs with a dubious reputa- The early years of Prop. 215 saw an injunction to close the SFCBC, the Hayward, the Hempori-um, founded by tion went from town to town trying to set OCBC and four other providers — continued on next page —26— O’Shaughnessy’s • Winter/Spring 2007

Cannabis Clubs from previous page scores of other and don’t file any reports on your busi- medical mari- ness activities. The Raid on WAMM juana arrests, The federal rollback continued on mostly for cul- Valentine’s Day 2002, when DEA ad- tivation. In Los ministrator Asa Hutchinson came to Angeles, So- speak at the Commonwealth Club in San mayah Kambui Francisco. Earlier that day, his agents —“Sister So- arrested “ Guru” Ed Rosenthal in mayah”— who Oakland, raiding a pair of gardens he served a small supervised in an Oakland warehouse and group of sickle- the basement of a club in San Francisco. cell patients, suf- Sister Somayah Kambui Rosenthal, who specialized in supplying fered repeated raids on her home garden clones to the clubs, claimed to be act- in South Central. Burdened with an an- ing as an official deputy of the city of cient “2-strike” record from her days as Oakland, in accordance with that city’s a Black Panther Party member, Somayah medical marijuana ordinance. continued to be hassled by the LAPD, Rosenthal’s case would become a even after winning a jury acquittal. cause celebre, culminating in a nominal For the most part, however, clubs one-day sentence. The jury recanted were rarely hassled by police. In some its guilty verdict, protesting that they instances, clubs even safe enough hadn’t been allowed to hear evidence to call the police to report burglaries or that Rosenthal was growing for medi- robberies, knowing that they would be cal purposes. Despite all the furor, not treated professionally like other busi- a single San Francisco or Oakland club nesses. was closed due to the raid that netted Rosenthal and Rick Watts (and drove 2001-2002: Persistent Terror Ken Hayes intol exile). The year 2001 saw a resurgence of While the rest of the the federal threat, as the inauguration was preoccupied with the “war on ter- A RUINED GARDEN (top) and grieving ofa linePresident of hawkish George drug W. Bushwarriors brought into ror,” Northern California was hit by grieving members of WAMM (top and middle office: John Ashcroft, John Walters, a flurry of medical marijuana raids in at right) were the legacy of the DEA raid Sept. and Asa Hutchinson. Just as the new 2002. Although the raids mostly targeted 5, 2002. After chopping down the almost-ready administration was settling in, the U.S. gardens, they brought down a couple of plants, agents hauled them away in rented Sonoma County clubs: Aiko in Santa trucks. WAMM supporters had gotten word Supreme Court voted 8-0 to reverse the of the raid and began assembling at a gate on Rosa, and Genesis 1:29, whose director, 9th Circuit’s medical necessity ruling, the dirt road leading to the Corrals’s property, reinstating the federal injunction against Robert Schmidt, was apprehended in a which they padlocked. Embarassed sheriff’s the Oakland CBC. field with 3,454 plants. deputies (bottom right) were ordered to The Department of Justice struck just By far the most fearsome federal blow negotiate an exit for the federal confiscators. weeks after 9/11 with a pair of medical fell on September 5, 2002, when DEA marijuana arrests. On Sept. 28, agents agents raided the Corrals’s property in raided the Ventura garden of Judy and the Santa Cruz hills, arresting Valerie One side-effect of the DEA raids closure of the LACRC in the more Lynn Osburn, who had been growing and Mike at gunpoint and destroying the was to disrupt the statewide organiza- populous southern half of the state, Cali- for the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource WAMM communal garden. The raid was tion of cannabis clubs that had grown fornia had a two-tier system of medical Center. On the same day, the DEA raided especially chilling, since WAMM exem- out of the Santa Cruz conference. The marijuana distribution: available in the the El Dorado County clinic of Mollie plified the “gold standard” of medical club operators had continued to stay in North, unavailable in the South. Fry, MD, and Dale Schafer, which had marijuana patients’ groups — not a club contact through monthly meetings at Resurgence of Clubs provided recommendations for some or dispensary that sold marijuana grown which they exchanged news, discussed As it turned out, the wave of federal 6,000 patients. Fry by others, but a communal gardening co- legal, business, and political issues, and repression reached its height in 2002. and Schafer had a small garden from op belonging to 200 gravely ill patients. tried to develop a common strategy. The No systematic sweep of dispensaries which, the feds would allege, some There was no doubting the legality of group hoped to organize a trade associa- materialized. Instead, medical marijuana patients were provided with marijuana WAMM even under the strictest reading tion, known as the Medical Cannabis advocates staged a counter-offensive. —an act not protected by the Conant of Prop 215. Association, to develop good-practice The government ended up with mud injunction. business standards for the industry. The on its face in the Rosenthal trial, as The DEA followed up on October The WAMM raid left no room meetings were originally hosted by Jeff Ed walked out of court with a one-day 27th by raiding the LACRC, the major to doubt the federal govern- Jones at the OCBC, then moved to the sentence, time served, on June 4, 2003. medical marijuana facility in Southern San Francisco Patients Resource Center A serious constitutional challenge California. It served some 960 members, ment’s lack of scruples. (SFPRC). to the Controlled Substances Act had mainly AIDS patients. The raid was The meetings were disrupted when been launched by medical marijuana especially disappointing to advocates The WAMM raid left no room to it transpired that one of the principals users Angel Raich and Diane Monson, of working within the system because doubt the federal government’s lack of at SFPRC, a mysterious priest known who filed a federal lawsuit arguing that the LACRC had shunned patients who scruples about enforcing prohibition to as “Father Nazarin,” had written a letter the government lacked authority under did not have well documented serious the hilt, even at the expense of the pri- to the DEA informing on Ed Rosenthal. its powers to regulate interstate com- diseases. Under Imler’s leadership, the vacy, freedom, and health of the most Although the SFPRC promptly expelled merce to prohibit them from possessing LACRC had maintained open books, gravely ill patients. Although no one was Father Nazarin from its leadership, the and cultivating marijuana for personal filed tax reports, and cooperated with criminally charged in the raid, WAMM movement was split by mutual distrust medical use. local officials and the LA Sheriff’s De- had to close its collective garden for fear and recrimination. No longer maintain- The case relied on precedents favor- partment. The policy backfired, as the of losing its property to forfeiture. In a ing a common political front, club opera- ing states’s rights written by the Supreme Department of Justice cited these very remarkable show of civil disobedience, tors became increasingly preoccupied Court’s conservative majority. Raich records as evidence that it was breaking Santa Cruz city officials protested the with their own private business affairs. and Monson won a favorable ruling federal law. raid by allowing WAMM to stage a hand- from the Ninth Circuit Court of Ap- Criminal charges were filed against out of medicine at the courtyard of City peals on Dec. 16, 2003. Although the Imler, the Osburns, and club officers Jeff Hall. DEA helicopters circled overhead, By the end of 2002 there had ruling only protected patients’ personal Yablan and Jeff Farrington, all of whom but nothing was done to stop the protest. been more than 40 federal ar- use and cultivation, and did not clearly pled guilty to avoid lengthy mandatory Events took a more sinister turn in rests for medical marijuana in apply to cannabis clubs that engaged in minimum sentences. The city of West San Diego when patient advocate Steve commerce, it afforded unprecedented Hollywood, which had lent the LACRC McWilliams staged a sympathy protest Northern California. federal protection for medical marijuana $350,000 to buy its building, lost their against the WAMM raid on the steps of defendants. investment in a federal forfeiture suit. city hall. McWilliams, who had been By the end of 2002 there had been In April, WAMM won a U.S. court According to a Washington Post growing 25 plants in his side yard for a more than 40 federal arrests for medi- injunction protecting their garden from article, the LACRC raid had been insti- handful of patients in the Shelter from cal marijuana in Northern California. federal raids and planted the first legal, gated by Congressional drug warriors in the Storm collective, received a letter Despite this, there were no fewer clubs private marijuana garden in the U.S. Washington incensed by reports about from the U.S. Attorney demanding that operating than a year before. The Bay since the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. the LACRC’s flouting of federal law. he remove his garden. After refusing Area had become the world’s leading Prosecutions of other medical marijuana The raid severely limited availability of to do so, McWilliams was arrested on center of medical marijuana entrepre- defendants were put on hold and some, medical marijuana in the state’s largest federal cultivation charges. He became neurship, with some 13 clubs in San like Bryan Epis, were released on bail city. For the next two years, the only embroiled in a federal case and pled Francisco, three in Berkeley, two in while the government appealed the club in Southern California would be the guilty pending appeal. Denied the use Hayward, and three more in Oakland’s Raich decision to the Supreme Court. small one in Inglewood. The message to of mariuana while out on bail, suffer- “Oaksterdam” district. There was even Although the Court eventually ruled the clubs seemed to be: avoid publicity ing intense spinal pain and depression, a new club in Sacramento. With the continued on next page he committed suicide on July 11, 2005. O’Shaughnessy’s • Winter/Spring 2007 —27—

Cannabis Clubs from previous page

against Raich and Monson on June 6, tent, but this was ruled out by Tax Issues 2005, the Ninth Circuit decision gave DEA regulations. As cannabis clubs began to resemble medical cannabis advocates a year and retail businesses, they had to face the a half of breathing space during which Quality control was lacking in the issue of taxes. Some patient groups or- they enjoyed enhanced legal credibility medical marijuana market. Although ganized as non-profit co-ops and accord- and protection against federal raids. some consumers worried about pesti- ingly considered themselves tax exempt. cides or contaminants in their medicine, The newer clubs usually filed for busi- Commercialization it was impossible to arrange inspections, ness permits, obliging them to pay local By the time of the DEA raids, medical since the DEA forbade licensed labs business and income taxes. WAMM filed cannabis was developing into an increas- to handle controlled substances. Many to become a 501c(3) charitable organiza- ingly commercialized business. The first growers and dispensaries wanted to tion, eligible for tax-deductible contribu- generation of cannabis clubs had been have their products tested for purity, tions. The state of California approved led by politically engaged advocates potency and content, but their application upon passage of Prop such as Dennis Peron and Valerie Cor- this too was prohibited. Most edibles 215, but the IRS overturned it. ral. As these leaders were targeted and and extracts were prepared in private The sales tax posed special issues. At sidelined by the DEA, a new generation homes and not subject to public first, everyone ignored it, reasoning that of more business-oriented providers health inspection. Some products were medicine was tax-exempt. In fact, the emerged, some of whom were deri- said to be manufactured using dangerous California tax code provided that only sively dubbed “potrepreneurs.” These chemicals such as isopropyl alcohol and prescription medicines sold in pharma- operators had little interest in politics or propane; but, again, testing for such DISPENSARY MODEL was exemplified cies were exempt from sales tax; marijuana as medicine, they were mainly substances was impossible under the by the “Green Cross” in San Francisco, sold in healthfood stores were taxable. focused on buying low and selling high. Controlled Substances Act. whose owner claimed to “have taken Because marijuana was “recommended” medical marijuana from the ‘60s into the Some of the most successful had experi- A factor driving the growth of the rather than prescribed and sold in phar- 21st century.” ence running other businesses. medical marijuana market was the in- macies, it could be considered taxable. The new operations were organized creasing availability of physicians and dations so as to penetrate the clubs. (See The Hemp Center in San Francisco in various ways — as corporations, clinics specializing in marijuana evalu- story on page 3.) Several of the doctors, made the mistake of filing a statement to non-profits, co-ops, sole proprietorships, ations. In the early years of Prop 215, including Mikuriya, faced disciplinary the state Board of Equalization, in which adjuncts to other businesses, one-man recommendations were hard to come hearings before the medical board after it claimed that its sales of medical mari- delivery services. Unlike the SFCBC and by, most physicians having received no having written approvals to undercover juana were tax exempt. The store was hit its first wave of successors, the newer education concerning cannabis and be- cops claiming they had used marijuana with a hefty claim for back taxes, driving clubs rarely offered counseling, social ing afraid of punishment for approving safely and effectively to treat pain. it to the verge of bankruptcy, according activities, massage/yoga classes, medi- its use. A handful of doctors stepped to the owner. The sales tax represents up into the breech, led by Tod Mikuriya, a cal and political literature, etc. Very few As access expanded, so to 8.75% of revenues. Increasingly, the allowed on-site smoking or socialization, Berkeley-based psychiatrist. Early on, newer dispensaries “buy into the system” activities known to detract from sales Mikuriya got referrals from the SFCBC did the proportion of patients and pay it. and encourage adverse attention from and other clubs and developed a loyal whose medical need for mari- The Rise and Fall of Oaksterdam neighbors. They preferred to be known clientele of patients unable to get recom- juana was not obvious. Oakland emerged as the center of as “dispensaries” rather than clubs. mendations from their regular doctors California’s new medical cannabis cul- Dispensaries focused on three pri- (or reluctant to ask). Over the years he As access expanded, so did the pro- ture and commerce. Following the fed- mary tasks: (1) to oversee intake and has been joined by more than 20 MDs portion of patients whose medical need eral injunction against the OCBC, new validate recommendations; (2) to pro- who have made a specialty of cannabis for marijuana was not obvious. Prop. 215 clubs came to locate in the surrounding vide security at the door, which became consultations. allowed marijuana to be recommended area, a semi-deserted downtown district increasingly important as robbers started In the early days, Mikuriya and others for any medical condition that the phy- near the 19th Street BART station that targeting dispensaries on account of their would travel around the state to special sician deemed appropriate. According soon became known as “Oaksterdam.” considerable bundles of cash and “prod- clinics hosted by clubs and patients’ to a survey by Dr. Mikuriya, this com- The OCBC was a magnet, operating the uct,” and (3) to sell marijuana. advocates. This practice, which might prised over 200 indications, including most popular ID card system in the state. As the industry grew, so did the have raised ethical concerns about con- such common complaints as back pain, Thousands of patients from around the variety and sophistication of products flict of interest, gradually abated. The arthritis, depression, nausea, migraines, state came to get OCBC cards. available through dispensaries. Com- Conant injunction protects doctors who and PMS. Oaksterdam attracted a diverse range mercial vendors specialized in differ- recommend marijuana to their patients, Based on reports of efficacy from of businesses. The Oakland Patients ent strains of cannabis —Romulan, but not if they help them to obtain it. As their patients, doctors approved mari- Group, located at 19th and Telegraph, , Diesel, Train Wreck, and a result, physicians were encouraged to juana use for ADD, depression, anxiety, adhered to rigorous security standards, dozens of other varieties with equally part ways with the clubs and reach out insomnia, alcoholism and drug addiction while offering social services to its non-medicinal names. Other vendors on their own. By the year 2000, some —even though there were no clinical members. A couple of doors down from specialized in providing clones, which medical cannabis practitioners had be- studies in peer-reviewed medical jour- the OCBC, the Bulldog Coffee Shop patients could take home and cultivate. gun advertising their services in local nals substantiating the patients’ claims. was launched by Richard Lee in open Others manufactured , and still newspapers. The situation was summarized by a imitation of an Amsterdam coffee shop. others marketed new kinds of extracts, In Oaksterdam, two new clinics set up KTVU-TV news crew, which, after visit- The front of the Bulldog had a coffee balms, tinctures, capsules, and oils. A offices near the cannabis clubs: Norcal ing a MediCann office, concluded, “just counter and street café open to all, while dazzling array of cannabis edibles were which was established by doctors who about anyone with any medical malady the back room had a window where can- developed —brownies, snaps, had previously rented space at Compas- can get a recommendation.” nabis was sold to members. Although ganja cakes, butter, breads, candies, sionate Caregivers, and Medi-Cann, Not just in the media but in reality Lee himself used marijuana for medical frosting, ice cream, milk shakes, soda which advertised evaluations at the the clientele of cannabis clubs came to purposes, he made no secret of his desire pop, even peanut butter and jelly. Many bargain price of $100. Both soon opened be characterized less and less by people to expand the membership to all adults products came with their own brand la- branches in other cities. treating life-threatening conditions bels, some with sober medical warnings Employing physician’s assistants to such as AIDS and cancer, and more (“Do not use when driving”), others in cut costs, the clinics churned out rec- and more by people treating stress and ommendations on short order at reason- pain, depression and ADHD —incuding able prices. Some doctors and lawyers seemingly able-bodied young men who expressed concern that the clinics were looked like stereotypical “recreational” cutting corners and failing to perform smokers. adequate examinations. However, few As competition among dispensaries consumers complained about the quick grew, so did promotion. Dispensaries in-and-out service, which allowed them started to advertise, first in handbills to get an approval, an OCBC ID card, Oaksterdam’s Bulldog Coffee Shop and newsletters, then eventually in ads and access to nearby pot clubs in one regardless of health status. in the alternative press. With the rise of convenient trip to downtown Oakland. Between the Bulldog and the OCBC the internet, many launched websites. The Butte County DA forced Medi- was the Four Seasons, a hydroponic store A dazzling display of edibles One company, Arizona Medical, tried to Cann to close its Chico office, saying where those wishing to exercise their sell medical marijuana online, but was that its recommendations were not valid Prop 215 right to cultivate could obtain flagrant imitation of commercial good- busted. One or two clubs even bought because they were issued by physician’s the requisite indoor growing equipment. ies (“Keef Kat,” “Munchy Way,” “Pot radio ads. assistants. MediCann closed its Chico The largest and —for a while— most Tarts,” “Toka-Cola.”). Some clubs offered special discounts. offices and stopped using PAs. successful Oaksterdam business epito- Unfortunately, the practice of offering TV news crews began visiting the mized the new trend toward commercial- Many growers and dispensa- small amounts of free marijuana (“com- clinics, showing how easy it was for their ism. “Compassionate Caregivers” was passion”) to needy patients sometimes ries were interested in having reporters to get recommendations with a established by Larry Kristich, an out-of- resulted in handouts being resold on convincing tale of pain. towner whose previous experience was their products tested for purity, the street. This in turn attracted adverse Undercover cops also made use of the in the gambling business and who said potency and cannabinoid con- attention from neighborhood groups, al- cannabis specialists to obtain recommen- ways alert to the abuses of club clientele. continued on next page —28— O’Shaughnessy’s • Winter/Spring 2007

Cannabis Clubs from previous page he had no affinity for marijuana. Located The ordinance forced the lating cannabis clubs in unincorporated in the upper floors of an office building areas. The ordinance was somewhat less at 1740 Telegraph Ave, a few doors permanent closure of five of dire than its Oakland counterpart, in that behind the OCBC, the club became the eight clubs in Oaksterdam. it allowed for on-site consumption in known as the “Third Floor.” It could Although it appeared to be the form of vaporization. It capped the not be seen from the street, other than number of clubs at three, forcing four a couple of security guards who hung a major setback for medical others to shut down. out on the sidewalk checking IDs at the marijuana in Oakland, it also door. On the second floor were offices, represented a significant victo- Sonoma County Crackdown which for a while were rented out for The drama was replayed in uglier . physician’s clinics, until it was decided ry for the surviving businesses terms in Santa Rosa. Although Sonoma that this was too risky. On the third floor County had voted 69% in favor of Prop. an impressive variety of products was school was located nearby. The ordi- 215, the public mood soured when a Entrance to 194 Church St., Dennis sold, many of them supplied from the nance forced the permanent closure of dispensary known as Resource Green Peron’s original SFCBC location, in its club’s own garden. Kristich stayed aloof five of the eight clubs in Oaksterdam; opened up not far from city hall. The incarnation as “CHAMP.” At the door is manager Ken Hayes. from the movement and activist politics, others were forced to relocate and dis- club acquired a reputation for attracting concentrating instead on establishing perse to other parts of the city. riff-raff, fakers, and small-time dealers ment for disability access will rule out branch outlets around the state. Although the ordinance appeared to who resold their medicine on the street. further use of Dennis Peron’s original Unlike the typical patient collective, be a major setback for medical mari- City officials were particularly dis- second-floor location on Church Street, Compassionate Caregivers was orga- juana in Oakland, it also represented a mayed at the high proportion of appar- which had continued to operate in the nized along professional business lines, significant victory for the surviving busi- ently able-bodied young men frequent- hands of different owners for more than with a payroll of some 200 employees, nesses. By licensing the dispensaries, ing the club. The council responded with 10 years. (In Dennis’s time, wheelchair- for whom it paid withholding taxes, So- the city implicitly acknowledged their an ordinance that forced Resource Green bound patients waited at street level for cial Security, unemployment and health legitimacy. Medical marijuana dispen- to close while allowing two other clubs medicine to be delivered to them from insurance, as well as sales taxes to the saries had moved from the outskirts of to be licensed under sharply restricted upstairs). The ordinance marked the state. At its height in early 2005, Com- civil disobedience to the mainstream of conditions: days and hours of operation end of laissez-faire free enterprise for passionate Caregivers operated branches legally licensed businesses. were limited to 9 to 3 on weekdays and cannabis clubs in San Francisco, and in San Francisco, Ukiah, Bakersfield, the beginnings of regulated capitalism. Alameda County, West Hollywood and San Diego. The bubble burst that May when the LAPD came upon more than SB 420 called for enhancing $300,000 in cash and 800 pounds of patient access through “coop- products (weight of edibles and pack- erative, collective cultivation aging included) at the West Hollywood outlet, known as the “Yellow House” projects.” The feds moved to seize CC’s assets, and most of the outlets were forced to Southern Comfort fold. Larry Kristich dropped out of sight. While cannabis clubs were retrench- Manager Sparky Rose, tried to rescue the ing up north, they began proliferating in outlets in San Francisco and Oakland previously underserved parts of South- by re-organizing a new entity known as ern California, Los Angeles, Bakersfield, “New Remedies.” However, the city of and San Diego. Oakland refused to re-license the Oak- The explosion was precipitated by land outlet, and the San Francisco branch the enactment of SB 420, which took was closed by a DEA raid on October 3, effect on Jan. 1, 2004. Although SB 2006, in which Rose and 14 associates Greater Oaksterdam (in 1917) 420 did not actually legalize dispensa- were arrested. So ended the saga of what ries, its language appeared to encourage was once the largest medical cannabis Measure Z: “Tax and Regulate” 10 to 2 on Saturdays; consumption and improved legal access to cannabis. In business in California, if not the world. The Oakland ordinance prompted loitering were prohibited within 150 particular, it called for enhancing patient Oaksterdam suffered a reversal in the marijuana proponents to counter with a feet of the premises; and sales of para- access through “cooperative, collective summer of 2003 following a complaint ballot initiative, Measure Z, calling for phernalia or any other products except cultivation projects” and gave such to the city council by the director of a the city to “tax and regulate” marijuana marijuana were forbidden (2005). Cali- collectives provisional legal protection center serving gay minority youth that for general adult use. Measure Z passed fornia’s romance with cannabis clubs against charges of distribution and sale. was located between Compassionate with an impressive 65% of the vote in had clearly ended. SB 420 authorized designated prima- 2004, but it did not prevent the neigh- ry caregivers to charge for their services, borhood from sinking back towards its Backlash in San Francisco at least on a “non-profit” basis. Although previous state of economic inactivity. The backlash against dispensaries neither of these provisions legalized According to the city tax assessor, gross went on to hit San Francisco, where outright retail sales of the kind most revenues reported by medical cannabis some 40 clubs were operating. Contro- cannabis clubs engaged in, it offered dispensaries plummeted from $26.2 mil- versy broke out in March, 2005, when them a potential defense as caregivers lion in the year 2003-4 to $5.4 million the Chronicle reported that a dispensary or collectives. two years later. was opening in a city-managed welfare Despite its limitations, SB 420 was The crackdown in Oaksterdam pre- hotel for the homeless. Mayor Gavin widely interpreted as giving a green light cipitated an exodus of clubs to the un- Newsom immediately called for a to medical marijuana providers. This was incorporated part of Alameda County. moratorium on new dispensaries until especially true before June, 2005, when Before long, half a dozen dispensaries regulations could be enacted. the Ninth Circuit’s Raich decision was Caregivers and the Lemon Drop, a bak- had sprung up in the Cherryland- Popular clubs that drew large num- in effect and it could be credibly argued ery/dispensary. The director complained Ashland district south of the city. For bers of people and cars were suddenly that medical marijuana was totally legal. that his clients were being subjected to a while, they ran discreetly beneath the at risk. Some resentful South-of-Market New clubs were emboldened to open in the smells and temptations of marijuana. radar, lost in the jumble of strip shopping residents complained to the police about Bakersfield, Long Beach, Sacramento, When a new club, the Dragonfly, boulevards. Trouble broke out near the MendoHealing, which had lowered Redding, and Modesto. Many filed for opened just across the street, it proved busy intersection of E. 14th St and Ash- prices of high-grade marijuana to $30/ business licenses as medical cannabis too much for Oakland politicians, who land, where one particularly popular club eight-ounce (when the norm was $50- dispensaries. With the Ninth Circuit were planning a massive new housing began attracting unwelcome carloads of 55), resulting in long lines outside the Raich decision in effect, many city of- redevelopment project nearby. Led by out-of-town customers, mostly young front door. Similar complaints were ficials assumed clubs were legal under President Ignacio De La Fuente, the city men, causing neighbors to complain aimed at Green Cross, located on the SB 420 and Prop 215. council passed an ordinance drastically of parking conflicts and rude behavior. edge of the Mission district, and three Among the bolder new entrepreneurs limiting dispensaries in Oakland. Neighborhood groups raised a storm clubs clustered on Ocean Ave. was Richard Marino, who publicly an- The ordinance capped the total num- when they discovered that half a dozen The task of writing an ordinance nounced that he was opening a club in ber of dispensaries in the city at four; other clubs had also located nearby. The was assumed by Sup. Ross Mirkarimi, a Roseville, in the heart of Placer County. required that they submit to extensive Alameda County Board of Supervisors Green Party leader. Eventually, the city On his property, Marino grew hundreds regulations and pay an annual licensing responded by passing an ordinance regu- settled on a licensing scheme that may of plants guarded by barbed wire and 24- fee of up to $20,000; forbade on-site let most existing clubs operate (they hour security patrols. He would soon be consumption and smoking; and forced have until early 2007 to come up to its busted by the DEA following complaints clubs to relocate and spread out around standards) while leaving almost no space from neighbors. the city, with no two permitted within for new ones to open. More prudent operators enjoyed 1000 feet of each other. The ordinance imposes licensing fees greater success. Cheryl Riendeau, a Most importantly, no clubs were and new regulations that will raise the former medical office manager, had few permitted near the OCBC or 19th Street cost of doing business. A new require- problems in Placer County, quietly set- BART station on the grounds that a continued on next page O’Shaughnessy’s • Winter/Spring 2007 —29—

Cannabis Clubs from previous page ting up Golden Gate Patient Care with without public notice so as to establish By 2006, Los Angeles had fi- San Diego’s position was backed by support from local officials in the tiny use rights before city officials could act. the District Attorney of Riverside Coun- town of Colfax. Once established, such facilities were nally outstripped the Bay Area ty who issued a white arguing that The most impressive growth occurred difficult to eliminate by standard zoning in the number of dispensaries medical cannabis sales are illegal under in the Southland. Compassionate Care- ordinances. The standard response was serving it. Prop. 215 and SB 420. In response, the givers from Oakland opened its “Yellow to enact moratoriums, which prevented Attorney General’s office commented House” in West Hollywood in early 2004 new facilities from opening but left exist- California. By 2006, Los Angeles had that dispensaries were an “allowable” (in a building that once was Charlie ing ones intact. finally outstripped the Bay Area in the option for counties to implement access Chaplin’s office.) Two other Northern Cannabis dispensaries were still number of dispensaries serving it. to medical marijuana. California enterprises followed —Ukiah vulnerable to criminal prosecution for The San Diego crackdown marks a Medical, with connections to Mendoci- violating the drug laws. This sanction San Diego: Rapid Rise, Rapid Fall new stage in the battle over cannabis no’s Emerald Triangle marijuana fields, was rarely invoked during the time the In September, 2004, Legal Ease, clubs. Its resolution will ultimately and LA Patients and Caregivers Group, Ninth Circuit’s Raich decision prevailed. Inc. became the first dispensary to open depend on whether San Diego public founded by Don Duncan, the politi- After the Supreme Court overturned it, in San Diego since the closure of the officials and residents conclude that cally astute co-director of the Berkeley however, cities began to enact outright Hillcrest club in ‘01. A year and a half cannabis dispensaries are a asset Patients Group, who tried to help other bans on the grounds that marijuana was later, some 20 dispensaries were operat- or a nuisance to the community. It will providers maintain good relations with still illegal under federal law. ing —such had been the pent-up demand also depend on court decisions, and an the public and city officials. in the state’s second most populous city. important one has come down as the The new clubs took advantage of the issue goes to press in early December. fact that West Hollywood was patrolled Superior Court Judge William Nevitt, by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Jr. has rejected the San Diego lawsuit, Department,which had been supportive challenging Prop 215 and SB 420. Re- of medical marijuana, rather than by quiring counties to issue ID cards for the LAPD, which was infamous for its medical marijuana users, Nevitt ruled, repeated raids on Sister Somayah. Other did not create a “positive conflict” with dispensaries quickly jumped into the federal law because the U.S. Supreme West Hollywood scene, prompting the Court has decided that states aren’t city council to pass an ordinance limit- obliged to enforce federal laws. How- ing their number to seven in July 2005. ever, Nevitt noted, California statues do By this time dispensaries had begun not prevent law enforcement officers to branch out in the territory of LA from arresting offenders under federal proper. Among the first to do so was anti-drug laws. Scott Feil’s former Ukiah club, now re-dubbed United Medical Caregiver “We Love L.A.” Clinic, which established a flourishing Impact of the Raich Decision The dispensaries burgeoned quietly and The most crucial battleground for the business on Wilshire Boulevard. On the On June 6, 2005, medical marijuana without any comment from city officials. future of dispensaries is likely to be Los first floor were doctors’ offices. On the proponents were again put on the de- Angeles, the nation’s trend-setting enter- second was a capacious waiting room fensive as the Supreme Court’s ruling The San Diego suit chal- tainment capital. As in San Francisco and where customers were regaled with TV against Raich re-established federal Oakland, the proliferation of cannabis and a buffet while awaiting their turn supremacy. No longer could California lenged the validity of SB 420 clubs in LA has created a politically un- in the bud bar. Celebrities were served patients claim to be engaging in com- and Prop. 215 on the grounds stable situation. In the North Hollywood in a private back room. Pushing the in- pletely legal activity. that they violate federal law. district, police and neighborhood groups dustry to a new stage of commercialism, On June 22 the DEA raided three have begun to agitate against the profu- UMCC went so far as to advertise on San Francisco dispensaries run by Asian- The county’s conservative Board of sion of clubs. DEA agents have been radio stations. Like Compassion- Americans and arrested 20 staffers. The Supervisors then took an extraordinary actively investigating and conducting ate Caregivers, UMCC had a branch in U.S. attorney portrayed them as part of a action with implications throughout the exploratory raids. The news media have Ukiah, in Mendocino County, a center “widespread criminal enterprise,” throw- state. The Board decided to fight the begun to cover the LA cannabis scene, of marijuana reputed to be ing in charges of money laundering and requirement in SB 420 requiring the emphasizing the casual access it affords a leading source of medicine for the ecstasy peddling. The defendants were county establish a patient ID system. to seemingly able-bodied young people. LA clubs. not well known in the marijuana activist County counsel was directed to file a LA City Councilman Dennis Zine has Inevitably, UMCC caught the atten- community. Local police had encoun- lawsuit against the state (and San Diego filed a motion to impose a moratorium tion of LA police, who raided it; but it tered them in a string of indoor grow NORML, which had threatened to sue on new clubs while the city develops an managed to re-establish itself, re-orga- busts that were never prosecuted. Despite if the county wouldn’t issue ID cards). ordinance. nize, and re-locate again to Fairfax Ave. denials, the San Francisco Police Depart- The San Diego suit challenged the If Los Angeles enacts an ordinance LA was soon swept by a flood of new ment had cooperated with the DEA. In a validity of SB 420 and Prop. 215 on the to license dispensaries a la Oakland or dispensaries. The departure from previous raids, federal of- grounds that they violate federal law. The San Francisco, dispensaries are likely proved especially fertile grounds. The ficials took pains to portray the operation lawsuit was joined by two other coun- to survive and thrive, albeit in reduced first club in the Valley, Heal- not as an attack on medical marijuana ties hostile to Prop 215, San Bernardino numbers. On the other hand, if Los An- ing Caregivers, was established in the per se, but rather on illegitimate activity and Merced and opposed by the ACLU, geles follows the path of San Diego and second floor of a Van Nuys mini-mall in masquerading under Prop 215. Americans for Safe Access, and the Drug tries to eliminate dispensaries entirely, February, 2005. Two score more would A few other DEA dispensary raids and Policy Alliance. they could be extinguished from all but follow. Within a year and a half, Los An- arrests followed. In each case, local law San Diego dispensaries had been a few liberal enclaves in California. geles would have over 100 dispensaries, enforcement helped instigate the action. closed even faster than they sprung up. Legislation is needed to create a clear more than any other city in the state. In Sacramento, the DEA teamed up with On Dec. 15, 2005 DEA and San Diego legal framework for the distribution of In Long Beach, dispensaries began county sheriff’s deputies to arrest Wayne narcotics agents raided 13 dispensaries, cannabis. State lawmakers are unlikely opening after the city council voted to Fowler for running a high-profile dis- seizing medicine, computers, and patient to pass such legislation until federal direct police to stop hassling Prop 215 pensary on Folsom Boulevard without a records. Although no arrests were made, law has been changed to allow for legal patients. In LA County, the Board of business license. In Bakersfield, the DEA authorities announced that they were in- distribution. One possible future for Supervisors adopted an ordinance ex- raided the Free and Easy dispensary, vestigating the clubs’ operations. In July, dispensaries is implicit in Oakland’s plicitly regulating dispensaries in the un- whose owner was found to be in illegal 2006, they followed up by raiding 11 Measure Z: providing a stepping stone incorporated part of the county along the possession of firearms. In Kern County, dispensaries, arresting 15 persons, and towards legalized use of marijuana by same lines as West Hollywood. Up the Joe Fortt was arrested with a 2,000-plant threatening any remaining dispensaries adults. coast, Santa Barbara proved especially medical grow. In Merced, Dustin Costa, to close or face federal charges. Opera- receptive, with nearly a dozen clubs as who was organizing patients to get tors of a delivery service have since been of this writing. Even Bakersfield proved involved politically, was arrested for taken down by the task force. hospitable, as the Kern County Supervi- cultivating 900 plants. And in Stanislaus The San Diego sweep marked the first sors voted to allow a half dozen clubs. County, Thunder Rector was federally systematic campaign by a county to rid On the other hand, many towns charged for a garden that supplied his itself of dispensaries. It was rationalized proved hostile. Some police chiefs wife’s club in San Francisco. not in terms of federal law, but rather and neighborhood groups warned that New dispensaries were opened by state law. The San Diego District At- dispensaries attracted robberies, crime, entrepreneurs who assessed the federal torney’s office explained that retail sales and unsavory visitors. Dozens of towns crackdown as finite. This was especially were illegal, and that dispensaries could enacted moratoriums or regulations to true in the Southland. In the 16 months not legitimately qualify as caregivers block new dispensaries, among them following the Raich decision, 214 new under Prop. 215. In addition, the district Pasadena, Fresno, Ontario, Temecula, cannabis providers made their presence attorney argued that most of the clubs’ Modesto and Torrance. In order to known on California NORML’s website. clients were not seriously ill, but rather avoid such exclusion, many dispensaries Of these, 153 were in the southern half young men with trivial problems who acted pre-emptively, opening up quietly of the state. In the previous 16 months, were “abusing” the law. 66 clubs had opened, only 29 in Southern