500 S.F. Marchers Protest Closure of Cannabis Club

More than 500 protesters marched through the city Monday night to protest the closing of a club that openly sold marijuana to patients with AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses.

Marchers blew whistles and carried candles and signs with such slogans as “Marijuana Is Medicine” and “Defend Your Right to Smoke Weed.” No arrests were reported.

Kevin Deffenbaugh, an AIDS patient and member of the Cannabis Buyers Club, attended the march in his wheelchair. Deffenbaugh said he is suffering from pneumocystis but signed himself out of San Francisco General Hospital for the protest.

“When I joined the club three years ago, I was bedridden, weighed 109 pounds and had a T-cell count below 50. Now I’ve quit taking every drug but marijuana, I’m 170 pounds and I’m going to walk again,” Deffenbaugh said. “The state wants to take my life away.”

Drug enforcement agents raided the club’s headquarters early Sunday after a two-year investigation revealed evidence of nonmedical marijuana sales. The agents seized more than 100 pounds of pot, documents and more than $65,000 in cash.

The club briefly reopened Monday until San Francisco Superior Court Judge William Cahill issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the club from storing or selling marijuana.

Still, some support came from the city’s political leaders.

Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who called the raid a “petty, vindictive pseudo war on drugs,” joined Supervisors Sue Bierman and Susan Leal in issuing a resolution asking the director of public health, Sandra Hernandez, to allow distribution of medical marijuana.