National polls, he said, show widespread support for allowing ailing people to use marijuana. But state and federal officials have shown their determination to prevent Northern California from becoming the nation's pot pioneer. In January, six of the cannabis clubs operating in the Bay area were named in a lawsuit filed by the federal government that sought court orders to close them for violating federal laws against growing, distributing and possessing marijuana. Since then, three of the clubs have closed. In legal papers filed Friday, lawyers for the clubs contend that the federal government has no jurisdiction because all the marijuana the clubs distribute is grown in California and interstate commerce laws do not apply.
Federal law continues to prohibit the distribution of marijuana at the cannabis clubs.
Charges may be brought in the future. In California, the suits have highlighted the legal gray area of medical marijuana. In conservative areas like Orange and Ventura counties in the southern part of the state, sheriffs and local officials have closed clubs, acting as though the 1996 referendum never took place. In more liberal areas, local health and police officials have worked with cannabis clubs, encouraging such controls as standard medical forms from doctors and photo identification cards for members. Until the federal civil suits were announced, officials in San Mateo County, a coastal area south of San Francisco, were drawing up plans to provide marijuana to certified ill people through public dispensaries.