In 1996, August 4 fell on a Sunday. That morning, in the wee small hours, some 100 agents from the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, supervised by John Gordnier, the Senior Assistant Attorney General, raided 1444 Market Street, a five-story building that housed the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club and Proposition 215 campaign headquarters. Five smaller BNE squads simultaneously raided the homes of Buyers Club staff members in and around the city. The raiders wore black uniforms with BNE shoulder patches. They seized 150 pounds of marijuana, $60,000 in cash, 400 growing plants, plus thousands of letters of diagnosis that citizens had brought from their doctors and left on file at the club.
"It was strange not seeing any San Francisco police," remarked Basile Gabriel, one of the seven employees who had slept at the club and was interrogated that morning. "It felt like the state had invaded the city." Mayor Willie Brown said the high-profile bust had been carried out unbeknownst to him, and he accused Attorney General Lungren of using "Gestapo tactics." (The club's front door had been battered in and the raiders hung black drapes over the windows to conceal what they were doing from civilian observers on Market Street.) The San Francisco Medical Society protested the confiscation of medical records as a violation of doctor-patient confidentiality. Dennis Peron charged that closing him down was "step one in Lungren's No-on-215 campaign. It was timed to kick off the Republican convention in San Diego. They want to make the war on drugs a big issue because what else have they got?"
Continue reading "Ten Years Ago..." »
O'Shaughnessy's is a unique medical journal in which doctors who approve cannabis use by patients share their findings and observations. O'Shaughnessy's News Service reports scientific developments in the field of cannabis therapeutics and related legal and political areas. Readers who use or appreciate the material on this site are asked to support our work. Contributions are tax-deductable and much needed. The Winter/Spring 2007 issue, by default of the book publishing industry, is THE history of the medical marijuana movement in California. Individual copies are $5/per. Order by check from O'Shaughnessy's, po box 490, Alameda CA 94501.
