MEDICAL MARIJUANA: San Francisco Club Reopens Under New Name
The Cannabis Cultivators Club, the San Francisco medical marijuana club closed this week by court order, yesterday reopened as the Cannabis Healing Center with a new director and a new policy about the distribution of the drug to caregivers. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the "building reopened with a new sign in front -- and a very nice 79-year-old woman sitting in" the chair of Dennis Peron, director of the former Cannabis Cultivators Club. "It's like the grand reopening of a new restaurant. Restaurants change their names all the time. But the cuisine is similar," said Peron. The only change in the operational structure of the club, said Peron, "was the decision to stop selling marijuana to 500 or so caregivers of users too ill to visit the club themselves."
California Law
The Chronicle reports that California Attorney General Dan Lungren, who brought the suit against the original club, "released a statement yesterday saying the club is still breaking the law" (Rubenstein, 4/22). The club is "once again thwarting efforts by" Lungren to shut it down, the New York Times reports. Lungren spokesperson Rob Stutzman said the attorney general was "considering action against the new center" (4/22). San Francisco Sheriff Mike Hennessey, who "evicted" the old club Monday, said he would not move against the new club, the Chronicle reports. "I support the medicinal marijuana law in the state of California, and it does seem this is an attempt to thwart that law. I think most people in this city want to keep that law carried out," he said (4/22).
Now Hiring: Medical Director
The AP/Contra Costa Times reports that Hazel Rogers, the club's new director, said she will "appoint a medical director to make the center more legitimate" -- "so we don't look like a bunch of hippies anymore." The AP/Contra Costa Times reports one of the "new medical director's first duties will be to find a way to legally deliver marijuana to bedridden clients" (Cole, 4/22).