But it's less clear if an organization may legally sell marijuana to patients, law-enforcement officials said. It's unclear whether patients could designate an organization, such as those running marijuana dispensaries, as their primary caregiver, Assistant District Attorney Jim Willett said. But there's an issue of whether pot clubs qualify as primary caregivers. Federal prosecutors have vigorously challenged marijuana clubs. This week, however, medical-marijuana advocates won a victory when a federal judge cleared the way for an Oakland club to distribute marijuana for medicinal purposes, saying the government hasn't proved why seriously ill patients should be denied the drug.
Legal challenges are likely to continue, however.
For Lang and other advocates the most difficult task may be persuading area public officials and residents of the need for a marijuana dispensary and that it would be a bona fide operation. No one knows how many area residents would use a dispensary, Lang said, but those that would currently have no option but to buy it legally in the Bay Area or illegally here. And few people have the knowledge or wherewithal to grow their own marijuana, he added. I'm not able to go out here and make aspirin. I don't have the knowledge or the laboratory.