Pubdate: Wed, 30 Jan 2013
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2013 The Arizona Republic
Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Jim Walsh
Page: B1

POT 'CLUBS' TARGETED

Officials Say Unregulated Groups Using Loopholes to Distribute 
Medical Marijuana

Acting on complaints from other businesses, Tempe police targeted a 
group of so-called compassion clubs on Tuesday by serving a series of 
search warrants and arresting the owner on possible drug charges.

Police found a stockpile of high-grade marijuana when they heit two 
houses near Papago Park in north Tempe that had been turned into 
sophisticated hydroponic facilities to supply the clubs.

As police cut down row after row of mature marijuana plants in a 
garage of one of the homes, the strong smell of marijuana filled the 
morning air. The crop's value was estimated in the hundreds of 
thousands of dollars, with 120 plants seized as evidence along with 
eight guns, a plastic bag with stacks of cash and three vehicles.

The arrest was the latest salvo in a long-running debate over whether 
the compassion clubs are places where medical-marijuana cardholders 
and caregivers exchange marijuana legally or are storefront marijuana 
dealerships that operate outside the state medicalmarijuana law.

The police crackdown culminated a months-long investigation that 
started before an employee of Az Go Green Coop, now known as Top 
Shelf Hydro College, was shot in October by two men who were spotted 
running away near Mill and Southern avenues, Tempe police Cmdr. Noah 
Johnson said.

James Earl Chaney, owner of Top Shelf Hydro College, was arrested 
Tuesday at his home in Ahwatukee Foothills on drug charges, police said.

Although no arrests have been made in the shooting, police are not 
ruling out robbery as a motive, with cash and marijuana posing an 
attractive target, Johnson said.

The crackdown also comes after some medical-marijuana advocates 
called for the Legislature to target unregulated clubs, rather than 
pursuing a ballot measure to repeal the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act 
approved by voters in 2010.

"The law allows people to share marijuana, but once money is 
exchanged, they are selling it," Johnson said.

"The bottom line is people who operate them (the clubs) are 
attempting to use a loophole that allows people to share marijuana," he said.

Compassion-club operators interviewed by before Tuesday's arrests 
said the clubs sprung up in office buildings and strip malls 
throughout the Valley because of frustration over delays in the 
opening of state-licensed dispensaries.

The club operators said their primary motivation was to serve the 
more than 35,000 Arizonans who obtained medicalmarijuana cards from 
the state Department of Health Services by the end of 2012.

With only one Valley dispensary open, in Glendale, the club operators 
said that many cardholders had no legal place to buy medical 
marijuana and were unable to grow their own because of expense and 
their medical conditions.

The clubs follow two distinct models, according to police reports 
detailing previous crackdowns in the East Valley. One featured a 
membership fee for members holding medical-marijuana cards who could 
stop by and pick up a limited amount of the drug.

The second model also required patients to have medical-marijuana 
cards. Police reports describe waiting rooms where samples of 
different strains were kept in jars on coffee tables.

A club employee advises patients on the strains that would be best 
for their ailment. The "donation" paid by the patient would vary 
based on the strain and its strength.

Club operators argue they are doing nothing illegal, relying on a 
provision in the medical-marijuana law that allows 
"patient-to-patient transfers."

"It states in the legislation that cardholding patients can trade 
medical marijuana with other cardholders," said Rod Chern, a 
"caregiver" who was supervising a Phoenix club.

"We are cardholders, we are patients," he said. "This is much safer, 
much cleaner" than street deals.

Chern said it is unrealistic to expect growers to rack up a 
$1,200-a-month electrical bill in the summer and receive no payment.

"We want to reimburse them for the cost and their time," he said.

But Maricopa County Attorney Bill 
Montgomerysaidcompassion-cluboperators could follow the law by 
applying for a dispensary license if they really care about their patients.

"There is no exception in the law that because you can't find a 
dispensary, it's OK to set up this alternate system," Montgomery said.

Three dispensaries are open in Tucson, one in Cochise and another in 
Williams, said Laura Oxley, a spokeswoman for the state Department of 
Health Services.

Police have investigated at least five compassion clubs in Gilbert, 
Tempe, Phoenix and Mesa and made several arrests.

Montgomery's office has prosecuted at least two compassion-club cases 
with multiple defendants who eventually pleaded guilty to reduced 
charges. They were placed on probation for a year or two but many 
were fined heavily.

Because of the threat of arrest and prosecution, the compassion clubs 
tend to keep a low profile.

But their business is also full of contradictions, with several clubs 
advertised regularly in the New and one using a "sign spinner" to 
attract passing drivers.

"We have been through hell and back," said Craig Scherf, an ex-police 
officer who became interested in alternative therapies after 
suffering an injury. He opened clubs in Tempe and Mesa that were shut 
down by police.

"The only people who have suffered are the patients," he said. "We 
have patients who are 65 to 70 years old who have to buy their 
marijuana on the street corner."

Scherf and his wife, Nicole, eventually pleaded guilty to charges of 
facilitation of the sale of marijuana and were placed on probation 
for two years.

But Scherf said the couple were ruined financially, with each of them 
fined $10,000. Their cars were seized by police under racketeering 
statutes. The Scherfs lost their home. Nicole's mother also incurred 
$20,000 in legal fees.

Scherf and defendants in the 2811 Club case in Phoenix say they met 
regularly with a deputy Arizona attorney general and a Maricopa 
County Superior Court judge on a 2011 civil case intended to test 
whether the clubs were legal.

"We were really duped. We kept saying, 'If we did anything wrong, we 
want to shut it down,' " Craig Scherf said.

But Montgomery and Attorney General Tom Horne deny they were working 
together to target the compassion clubs.

Scherf said his 300 patients had cancer and other serious medical 
conditions. He said they used marijuana to combat nausea from 
chemotherapy and to get off powerful, addictive painkillers.

"They are real people with real problems and real pain," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom