As for hurting pot sales with a boycott, Bellefountaine said the 1,300 customers know about the group's politics and tactics and choose to buy there, anyway. That incident and another disruption at Davies Medical Center that same year led to criminal charges against four members of the group. A judge dismissed many of the counts and gave just one member 25 hours of community service. Community service penalties also were meted out for a 1995 trashing of The City's Republican Party headquarters. They deny accusations of stalking, but acknowledge confronting activists and officials in public, yelling accusations and obscenities.
Local chapters operate autonomously, however.
Bellefountaine and fellow member David Pas quarelli were active in the Tampa, Fla., branch before moving here in 1993. The group claims HIV does not cause AIDS, and that AIDS is over. Its cause has broadened to include animal liberation and medical marijuana, adding a few extra bodies to the core membership of about seven. Their prices usually are the cheapest of any of The City's pot clubs and they do not verify a doctor's prescription. Instead, buyers sign a notarized form saying they need marijuana for medical reasons and that their doctor approves.