By William Claiborne

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, March 19, 1998; Page A10

LOS ANGELES, March 18—The mayors of four California cities, including San Francisco and Oakland, appealed to President Clinton today to drop federal lawsuits aimed at closing "cannabis clubs" that opened after voters approved a 1996 ballot initiative legalizing medical marijuana.

San Francisco Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr. said he was "deeply troubled" by Justice Department lawsuits and asked Clinton to impose a moratorium on enforcement of federal drug laws that could interrupt the clubs' operations until federal and local officials meet to discuss an end to the impasse.

Brown said 11,000 Californians in pain from AIDS, cancer and other illnesses depend on the two dozen marijuana dispensaries, most of them in the northern part of the state. If the patients are denied the drug, they will have to "search back alleys and street corners for their medicine," the mayor said.

Joining Brown in sending similarly worded letters to Clinton were Oakland Mayor Elihu M. Harris, Santa Cruz Mayor Celia Scott and West Hollywood Mayor Steve Martin.

Brown said he will "abide by the primacy of federal law," but in return he expects respect of local governments' experience and expertise in developing community-based solutions to public health problems.

San Francisco's stridently liberal district attorney, Terence Hallinan, was less restrained. He said if the federal government closes marijuana clubs, city health workers may be called on to distribute the drug to patients.

Hallinan contended that a vast majority of San Francisco residents and officials supports medical use of marijuana. If the clubs are closed, he said, "what is now a reasonably well-controlled, safe distribution system -- one that has been characterized by cooperation with city officials and one that is inspected by the Health Department -- will instead devolve into a completely unregulated, and unregulable, public nuisance."

While stressing that the proposal to enlist city employees to distribute marijuana is now only a "hypothetical," Michael Katz, director of the San Francisco Health Department, said the city has an "absolute commitment" to distribute marijuana to those who need it.

The federal lawsuits against six San Francisco Bay area cannabis clubs contend that the clubs violate federal laws against cultivating and distributing marijuana.

The new state law allows a doctor to recommend marijuana to ill people and permits a patient to use it with a doctor's recommendation and a "primary care giver" to provide it if the patient is unable to obtain the drug. State Attorney General Dan Lungren contends -- with the backing of federal drug officials -- that the law still does not allow commercial enterprises like the cannabis clubs to distribute marijuana.

Earlier this week, Lungren, who is a Republican candidate for governor, suggested he might prosecute city officials who dispense marijuana to patients.