Date: Wed, 07 Aug 1996 21:15:10 -0500 From: "Carl E. Olsen" <[c--l] at [dsmnet.com]> Subject: Buyer's Club [t--n--o] at [best.com] wrote: UPDATE on the raid of the San Francisco Buyers' Club Monday, August 5, 1996 ==================================================== For those of you who don't know, these are the details of the San Francisco CBC (Cannabis Buyers' Club) bust. To the best of my knowledge, all of the information provided is accurate. If there are some facts that I have wrong, please correct me. I also interject my personal views into this story, of which I expect to take some heat. To begin with, let me state that I am a strong proponent of not only total marijuana legalization, but the legalization of ALL drugs. I have also worked tirelessly--and continue to do so--for the passage of Prop. 215. With no help from anyone, I have collected 2,040 signatures for the initiative, registered 400+ voters in the process, and am currently circulating 2,000 Prop. 215 flyers. ================================================================= THE STORY BEHIND THE RAID OF THE SAN FRANCISCO BUYERS' CLUB ----------------------------------------------------------- Although there are CERTAINLY political reasons behind the raid of the Cannabis Buyers' Club, I believe the bust occured only because the the club was caught red handed operating in a manner that made it very vulnerable to being busted. The Cannabis Nazis who busted the CBC produced VIDEOTAPES of... 1) Dennis Peron (CBC founder) selling 2 pounds of cannabis to an undercover cop who had no medical need. 2) A 15-year-old--with no medical need--purchasing and smoking cannabis. 3) Cannabis was purchased by Narcs who produced letters--written by themselves--recommending that they need cannabis for MINOR illnesses. The Narcs told club personel that these letters were written by their physicians. The club never checked the validity of these letters and proceeded to serve the Narcs cannabis. At least this is what the Narcs claim. I am not certain that the Narcs have solid evidence to prove this. But from what I hear and know about the SF CBC, I can believe it's true. 4) Videotapes showed a roomful of young children in the club. Dennis Peron claims these kids were downstairs--where no smoking is allowed--waiting for their parents to purchase medicine. That may very well be true. But the Narcs got film of children hanging inside a 'drug house.' And that's all the evidence they need to convince the IGNORANT public we are 'evil.' The CBC bust was the topic of discussion on 50,000-watt KGO Newstalk radio in San Francisco. I heard 2 callers phone in and discuss the lax rule enforcement of the club. One caller was a member of both the San Francisco CBC and the Oakland CBC. She said that getting into the Oakland CBC was like pulling teeth--they had very strict rules, required patients to fill out lots of documents, and verified illnesses by contacting physicians. This same woman said that the San Francisco CBC was far more more lenient in giving out medicine and that there were often children and minors wondering around inside. Another woman called the program and mentioned that her classmates at Santa Clara University did a report on the San Francisco CBC, went to visit the club, and returned with a tincture of cannabis medicine. These students were NOT club members and had no illness. San Francisco District Attorney Terrance Hallinan also spoke on KGO radio about this issue. Keep in mind that District Attorney Hallinan is a proponent of total marijuana legalization and a friend of Cannabis Buyers' Club founder Dennis Peron. Hallinan said that he recieved several complaints about the club selling marijuana for non-medicinal purposes. Hallinan met with Dennis Peron in June and told him to clean up the club or there could be trouble. Hallinan recommended that Peron resign from the club to relieve the heat. After that meeting, Peron did resign from the club and apparently access to the club was tightened. I do not know if, or how much, club access was tightened. If access was tightened, it may have been to late. As much as I despise Governor Wilson, Attorney General Dan Lungren, and the Cannabis Nazis, I am also upset that the club was run so carelessly. I believe the club manager(s) shot themselves in the foot. Because the club rules were so lax and often not enforced, those running the club became wide open to being busted. Had the club been run the way it should have (squeaky clean), I believe it would still be open. Had Lungren and the Cannabis Nazis raided a CBC that was only admitting and serving adults with serious illnesses, Lungren and the Cannabis Nazis would have looked like shit. But instead, they have produced evidence that makes us look like shit. In addition to that, the state gets to put a ridiculous spin on this story--that we are shiftless drug dealers who exploit sick people in order to profit from drug dealing. We all know that claim is pure bullshit. We all know that the people involved in this movement are compassionate and do care about the sick. Unfortunately, the club sowed its own seeds of destruction because of carelessnes and complacency. Fortunately, all hope is not lost. Proposition 215 will be on the ballot in November and we still have an excellent chance of winning the war--if we don't keep shooting ourselves! --Tom Bouril ********************************************************************** * Carl E. Olsen * [c--l] at [dsmnet.com] * * Post Office Box 4091 * NORML News archived at: * * Des Moines, Iowa 50333 * http://www.commonlink.com/~olsen/ * * (515) 262-6957 voice & fax * [c--o--n] at [mail.commonlink.com] * ********************************************************************** Reporters and Researchers are welcome at the world's largest on-line library of drug policy material at: http://www.druglibrary.org/