POT CLUB WINS REPRIEVE AS JUDGE HINTS AT DELAY

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Attorney General Dan Lungren's attempt to shut down a
medicinal marijuana club hit a snag Friday when a judge suggested he would
delay action while the state Supreme Court considers the issue.

Lungren sought to halt operations of the Cannabis Cultivators Club, based
on a state appeals court ruling last month that said the club could not
legally sell marijuana to patients under Proposition 215, the 1996
medicinal marijuana initiative.

That ruling, which said Superior Court Judge David Garcia should order the
club closed, technically became final last week. But Garcia asked the
state's lawyer at a hearing Friday why he shouldn't wait until after the
state Supreme Court decides whether to hear the club's appeal, filed
Wednesday.

The court has 60 days to decide whether to take the case and can extend
that another 30 days. If it grants review, a ruling could take a year or
more.

If review is denied, the appellate ruling will become binding on trial
courts statewide and could be used to close all medicinal marijuana clubs.

The San Francisco club, formerly known as the Cannabis Buyers Club, sold
marijuana illegally to cancer and AIDS patients and others for years
without interference from local police. Lungren's office raided it in the
summer of 1996, got a shutdown order and also obtained a criminal
indictment against club founder Dennis Peron and others.

After Proposition 215 passed in November 1996, Garcia let the club reopen,
saying it was a ``primary caregiver'' for thousands of patients who were
allowed to use marijuana at their doctors' recommendation. But the 1st
District Court of Appeal ruled Dec. 12 that the club, as a commercial
enterprise open to the public, could not be a primary caregiver, and that
Proposition 215 did not legalize marijuana sales.

Two weeks ago, federal prosecutors filed separate lawsuits to shut down the
club and five others in California, noting that marijuana remains illegal
under federal law. No action has been taken on those suits.

At Friday's hearing, Senior Assistant Attorney General John Gordnier argued
that Garcia was bound by last month's appellate ruling and should order the
club closed immediately. The club's lawyer, J. David Nick, contended the
ruling has no binding effect while it is being appealed to the Supreme
Court. Garcia deferred a decision.

After the hearing, Nick told reporters the club ``will continue to operate
until the Supreme Court says otherwise.''

Even if the appellate ruling is upheld, Nick said, the case will eventually
go to trial, and ``we would ask any jury to nullify any laws that would
prohibit this type of activity, which is providing medicine to people who
are ill.''