Pot Clubs' Concerns Closer to Home

June 8, 2005 -- -- Jane Weirick, who has worked with some three dozen cannabis clubs since California legalized medical marijuana nine years ago, is more concerned with what happens in San Francisco City Hall, than in the halls of the U.S. Supreme Court.

San Francisco is one of some 40 California cities and counties that have instituted temporary bans on new medical marijuana dispensaries over the past few months as they attempt to come up with regulations to govern the operation of the cannabis clubs, storefront operations that provide marijuana to people with doctors' prescriptions for the drug as treatment for chronic pain, the side effects of chemotherapy or other conditions.

It's an effort that Weirick and others who advocate for medical marijuana say they welcome.

"It's really something that should have been done a long time ago," Weirick said.

She said the lack of regulation has allowed a few "profiteers" to potentially ruin things for the majority of those who operate dispensaries out of concern that patients who need marijuana are able to get it.

"We don't want to see anarchy on every corner," said Weirick, the president of the Medical Cannabis Association. "We want to see it regulated. Most of us would like to see it taxed, so it could help pay for education."

On Monday, however, the Supreme Court weighed in on the controversial issue in the case of Gonzales v. Raich -- affirming the federal government's right to prosecute medical marijuana users and those who provide them with pot, even in states that have legalized the use of the drug by those suffering from certain illnesses. The decision brought San Francisco's efforts to draw up cannabis club rules to a halt, as city officials consider what effect it might have.

"The main reason for the pause is to make sure we will not be setting anybody up for federal arrest and to maintain patient confidentiality," said Ross Mirkarimi, the member of the city Board of Supervisors who led the call for regulation and the city's moratorium on new clubs.

He had believed that the draft regulations had successfully "pirouetted around these land mines," but with the court ruling he is worried that the protections included would not have been strong enough.