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March 25, 1998

By Raoul V. Mowatt - Mercury News Staff Writer

POT CLUB’S CO-FOUNDER ‘SHAKEN UP’

A day after his arrest, Peter Baez, co-founder of the Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Center, said he doesn’t understand why he’s accused of selling marijuana without a doctor’s approval. He also criticized his treatment during his 13-hour jail stay, and wondered if the sympathetic relationship he said he once had with San Jose police had changed.

He and the center’s other founder, Jesse Garcia, said they have a good track record, working under the guidance of city and county officials since they began operating a year ago.

"I feel I’ve done nothing wrong," Baez added.

"This has really shaken me up physically," he said. "The stress is not the thing I need right now."

A jail spokesman defended the care Baez received while in custody.

Both Baez and Garcia mused that with the departure of San Jose Police Chief Lou Cobarruviaz, who is retiring, the department might be taking a different approach to their center. But police said the arrest doesn’t mark a departure from their policy on medical marijuana.

Baez, "knowing the set of rules, went outside the set of rules," said Sgt. Chris Moore, a police spokesman. "He’s being held accountable to that end."

Robles joined the center, on Meridian Avenue in midtown San Jose, because of a back injury. Baez sold marijuana to Robles nine times between October 1997 and February, worth a total of $400, court records said.

But Baez maintained that one of Robles’ doctors had given an oral OK for him to receive pot, court records said. Police say they checked with three of Robles’ doctors and none sanctioned that treatment, the records said.

That led to officers obtaining an arrest warrant Thursday, and serving it on Baez at the center Monday afternoon.

"I’m sure all the facts will be played out in court," Baez said. Baez is next scheduled to appear in court on April 6.

No sanctions

A San Francisco federal judge, in a decision last year, said the Clinton administration could not seek sanctions against California doctors for recommending marijuana for medical reasons under Proposition 215. Baez and Garcia said there was nothing to gain from drumming up patients who didn’t meet the criteria of Proposition 215, and Baez added that he has turned away people who were plainly ill who could not get their doctor’s approval for using pot.

A deputy district attorney contradicted Baez, saying he had not met his obligations in the Robles case.

Baez also said he was not allowed medications until he contacted his lawyer, and that the delay was disruptive, particularly since he had just undergone surgery.

Rick Kitson, a spokesman for the Department of Correction, said officials learned that Baez was taking a dozen medications, and had finished his dosage of three of them.

A fourth was to be taken on an as-needed basis. During the rest of his stay, he took five other medications. The remaining three would have been administered at 6 a.m. because the jail pharmacy had closed and because Baez’s doctor said taking the drug then would be fine, Kitson said.

But Baez was released before that time, in lieu of $5,000 bail.

Baez also said when he was taken into custody that he told an officer that his center had an agreement with the chief, who retired Saturday. He said the officer replied, "Cobarruviaz isn’t here any more, so now you’ll have to deal with us."

But Moore scoffed at the notion that the department had changed policies overnight with the ascension of Acting Chief Walt Adkins.

"Whoever is chief of police has nothing to do with our criminal investigation," Moore said.

The spokesman said the department has gone out of its way to allow truly ill people to obtain marijuana, including the way in which they busted Baez. They made the arrest at day’s end, didn’t confiscate cash, took only a small sample of pot and didn’t ask for high bail.

The department seized and copied the files of the center’s 270 clients. Moore said it would take detectives several weeks to go through that paperwork: "If there are in fact any other violations, that will come out in that investigation."
(Ed. note: This is really an inexcusable violation of the rights of the patients.)