require("content_top.inc");
?>
Legal Victory For San
Francisco Cannabis Healing Center;
Next Hearing In June; Problem For Lungren
April 29, 1998 LEGAL VICTORY FOR SAN FRANCISCO MARIJUANA CLUB San Franciscos main medical marijuana club scored an
unexpected legal victory Wednesday when a judge refused California Attorney General Dan
Lungrens demand for a legal order to close it down.
SAN FRANCISCO
(Reuters)
See
and
Peron To
Close Club; Sheriff To "Evict" For A Day; The Washington Post Is Bemused;
Lungren Confused; I'm Amused
Superior Court Judge William Cahill said there was not enough evidence to warrant a
restraining order against the club, the main source of marijuana for
some 9,000 people suffering from AIDS, cancer and other diseases.
(Ed. note: Notice that this is made as a statement of fact by
Reuters. No qualifiers.)
Cahill, who heard lawyers for both sides Tuesday, then scheduled a fresh hearing on the
issue for early June.
(Ed. note: The Republican primary is on June 4th which
means that this issue will be fresh in the voters minds. This makes Lungren look
both cruel and inept.)
The decision was hailed by medical marijuana supporters, who have fought to keep the club operating despite repeated efforts by both state and federal officials to close it.
"Im delighted," said Hazel Rodgers, the 79-year-old who now heads the club.
"It will give us some breathing room and allow us to stay open for a month and
allow us to serve our thousands of sick and dying patients."
(Ed. note: The landlord has now given them 30 days notice to vacate.
He may have no choice. His building could be seized for allowing it to be used to
"sell" marijuana.)
Officials in Lungrens office, meanwhile, vowed to continue their efforts to run the club out of business.
"The judge says he needs more evidence, well be happy to go and get it," said Lungren spokesman Rob Stutzman.
"All we have to establish is that they are selling marijuana, which means they will be breaking the law."
The battle over the San Francisco Cannabis Healing Center marks the latest skirmish over interpretations of Californias 1996 law, which legalized the medical use of marijuana if prescribed by a doctor.
Lungren says the club has overstepped the limits of the law and has become a "drug house" selling pot to the public at large.
This month he obtained a court order shutting down the clubs predecessor -- the
San Francisco Cannabis Cultivators Clubbut the organization opened again the next
day with a new name on the door.
See
Club founder and long-time medical marijuana proponent Denis Peron also stepped aside, handing the reins to Rodgers, a grandmother who uses marijuana to treat her glaucoma.
Dismissed by Lungrens office as a "straw person" fronting for Peron, Rodgers is proving to be a sympathetic figure.
"Our patients, and there must be 9,000 of them, if they dont have this place for them to get legal medical marijuana theyll have to become criminals, or at least take chances and do it out on the street," she said after Cahills ruling. require("content_bottom.inc"); ?>