Pubdate: Wed, 29 Apr 1998
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA) 
Contact:  
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ 
Author: Jaxon Van Derbeken

JUDGE TO DECIDE FATE OF NEW POT CLUB TODAY

Superior Court Judge William Cahill is expected to decide today whether to
close San Francisco's Cannabis Healing Center, the latest incarnation of the
medical marijuana club shut down earlier this month by court order.

Attorney General Dan Lungren is asking for a temporary restraining order
against the center, contending that it is merely a sham to thwart a
court-ordered closure of the Cannabis Cultivators Club.

In court yesterday, Cahill heard conflicting arguments that the new center
is either an illegal ``drug house'' or a legal operation providing care to
people in need of medicinal marijuana.

J. David Nick, the center's attorney, said its current operator, Hazel
Rodgers, is a legally authorized ``caregiver'' to 300 to 500 patients a day
who rely on the medically authorized use of the drug for their illnesses.

The Cannabis Healing Center occupies the same storefront that the now-closed
Cannabis Cultivators Club did. The 79-year-old Rodgers began operating the
center the day after club founder Dennis Peron closed the club on April 20.
Both Rodgers and Peron were on the Cannabis Cultivators Club lease at the
time that it was closed.

Nick said Rodgers gives individualized care to those ``suffering from the
most ghastly type of diseases possible.''

John Gordnier, the senior assistant attorney general who argued the case,
told the court that Rodgers was ``nothing more than a straw person acting on
Mr. Peron's behalf'' to get around the court-ordered closure.

Gordnier said that the center is ``in egregious violation of the law'' and
that Rodgers cannot provide individualized care to the thousands of people
who come to the center. He said such individualized care is required to be
in compliance with the law.

Cahill said he intends to at least curb what goes on outside the center,
given complaints by neighboring businesses of dealings out front.

``Whatever the courts wants done, we are willing to do,'' Nick said.

Meanwhile, the center's landlord served a 30-day eviction notice against the
Market Street operation, saying he does not want his property used to
distribute marijuana.

The landlord had leased the location to the Cannabis Cultivators Club but
now says he is seeking to evict the new center to avoid further legal
complications.

``I don't want them out, but that's the way it has to be,'' said 93-year-old
Victor Zachariah. ``I don't want any legal problems. I don't want any
trouble at all.''

In court papers, Zachariah said he fears retaliation for his decision to
evict the center. He said he does not want his property used for ``selling,
serving, giving away, cultivating marijuana, or any other illegal drugs.''  
©1998 San Francisco Chronicle