S.F. Sheriff Shuts Medical Marijuana Club

A reluctant sheriff shut down San Francisco’s largest medical marijuana club Monday as organizers waited in the wings to reopen under another name.

San Francisco Sheriff Mike Hennessey served Cannabis Cultivators Club founder Dennis Peron with an order closing down the operation shortly after 1 p.m. and ordered the building vacated. Peron and his followers cooperated peacefully.

Hennessey made it clear that he personally opposed the court order initiated by state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, whom Peron is opposing in a David vs. Goliath campaign in the Republican gubernatorial primary.

“I support the medicinal marijuana law in the state of California, and it does seem this is an attempt to thwart that law,” Hennessey said.

The sheriff said he would not move against the club’s successor agency, the Cannabis Healing Center, which was scheduled to open todayTues. under a new director at the same site.

“That has nothing to do with this court order,” Hennessey said.

Peron started the club four years ago and was a prime mover behind the successful 1996 drive for the state’s medicinal marijuana initiative. On Monday, he emerged from the club with his belongings--including a pot plant--packed in a cardboard box.

To shouts of “Peron! Peron!” from 75 supporters, the sometimes emotional activist said it was time for him to move on. “It’s been an honor to lead you into a more loving and compassionate society, and it’s very sad for me to have this moment in my life,” Peron said.

Customers of the club were relieved that the new cannabis center would open, but bitter about the attempt to shut Peron’s club down.

“Dennis Peron helped me keep 17 people alive this year,” said an angry Houston Broglin. “Pot makes AIDS patients eat. If you take this away, then you actually put a lot of people in the ground.”

A client who identified himself as Billy emphasized the positive, noting that the new center was opening.

“All praise to God. It’s still here,” Billy said. “This is history in the making.”

Peron noted that he had begun his involvement with the marijuana issue as an AIDS activist.

“I started it for AIDS patients, and then cancer patients came to me, and I said, ‘Sure,’ ” Peron said. “Then glaucoma patients came to me, and then other sick people came to me, and I began to realize this was a bigger problem.”

The court order to close down the club was based on pot sales to providers, rather than directly to patients. Peron called the issue a technicality that Lungren had seized on, but took responsibility for the error.

“When I started this, there was no road map. Maybe I made some mistakes along the way. Who knew you couldn’t sell to caregivers?” he said.

The new Cannabis Healing Center is run by Hazel Rodgers and is posted with notices that pot can be sold only to patients, and not caregivers.

It’s also covered with “Peron for Governor” posters, pins and bumper stickers.