Jerry Brown gets tough on medical pot clubs

California Attorney General Jerry Brown comments on the death of Anna Nicole Smith during a news conference in Los Angeles Friday, Oct. 12, 2007. Authorities investigating the death of Anna Nicole Smith raided six locations Friday, including the offices and residences of two doctors, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) less California Attorney General Jerry Brown comments on the death of Anna Nicole Smith during a news conference in Los Angeles Friday, Oct. 12, 2007. Authorities investigating the death of Anna Nicole Smith raided ... more Photo: Damian Dovarganes, AP Photo: Damian Dovarganes, AP Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Jerry Brown gets tough on medical pot clubs 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

California Attorney General Jerry Brownhas ordered a crackdown on medical pot clubs that are selling the drug for big profits.

The move puts the state a bit more in line with the feds in dealing with the explosion of questionable marijuana dispensaries since the passage of Proposition 215 more than a decade ago.

The first target was Today's Health Care club in Northridge (Los Angeles County), which agents from the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement raided over the weekend. The club owner and an alleged middleman were booked on drug-dealing charges.

Brown said Tuesday he would "not be surprised" to see similar raids here in the Bay Area.

"The voters wanted medical marijuana dispensaries to be used for seriously ill patients and their caregivers - not as million-dollar businesses," Brown said.

In recent years, pot club raids have been conducted mainly by federal authorities who don't recognize Prop. 215, the initiative California voters passed in 1996 to let patients use cannabis to treat what ailed them. Although medical marijuana is still illegal under federal law, the feds say many of their targets were actually sham outfits that were dealing marijuana for, shall we say, nonmedicinal uses.

This week, Brown issued an 11-page directive laying out guidelines that medical marijuana cooperatives must follow to comply with Prop. 215.

Among them: Sell only to legitimate patients. Operate as nonprofits. Buy pot only from fellow cooperative members at prices that cover cost, as opposed to professional growers out for big bucks.

"We are not out to harass legitimate clubs," Brown said. "The targets are those clubs that are part of a larger criminal operation where medical marijuana winds up being sold on the street and contributing to crime and violence."

Some medical marijuana dispensers, concerned that thuggish dope dealers are giving their business a bad name, welcomed Brown's guidelines - and the state crackdown.

"It's something many activists have been looking for since the medical marijuana law passed," said Kevin Reed of the Green Cross marijuana collective in San Francisco.

He said his outfit had nothing to fear. "We are a nonprofit," Reed said. "We only sell to patients. We only get our pot in small quantities from patients who grow it and sell it on consignment.

"We've been on the front page of every major newspaper in the nation and have never been bothered by the feds, because we are an open book," Reed said.

As for how many of San Francisco's 26 pot clubs might find themselves in hot water, Reed said: "I expect about 10 will not be with us within a year."

Mayoral misses: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsomwill be hosting a free indie-rock concert at a Denver art gallery tonight - which will probably the biggest stage the gubernatorial hopeful gets at the Democratic Party Convention this week.

And he's not the only California up-and-comer relegated to the sidelines.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has designs on the statehouse himself, wasn't offered a speaking role at the convention, either.

The Demo Duo's absence might seem like something of a surprise to some, given that just a couple of years back, they were being touted as two of the party's shining new lights.

But both mayors backed the wrong candidate in the Democratic primaries - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

And both Newsom and Villaraigosa are coming off rough patches in their personal lives - Newsom for sleeping with his campaign manager's wife, and Villaraigosa for his affair with a TV reporter while he was still married.

Plus, with California already considered safely in Barack Obama's pocket this November, there appeared to be little incentive for the Democrats to spend precious TV time on either man.

Instead, the podium slots went to politicos from swing states.

"Why else would they have city clerks from Illinois and other places speak?" said California state party Chairman Art Torres.

"We need those states to win the White House," Torres said. "It's a smart play."

It is worth noting, however, that Rep. Mike Honda of San Jose, as well as Southern California Reps. Linda Sanchez and Xavier Becerra, were all given speaking roles Tuesday. Honda is a national party chair, and the other two were early Obama backers.

State Controller John Chiang and Sen. Barbara Boxer- both of whom supported Clinton - got face time on the podium as well.

So apparently, Newsom and Villaraigosa just didn't rate.

None of which apparently had either man losing much sleep. Both figure their careers won't suffer too much from not speaking at 3 o'clock in front of a half-empty hall.

Road tour: How's this for a presidential joyride?

When Sharky Laguana heard from an employee of his San Francisco company, Bandago, that one of his $65,000 rental tour vans had disappeared Sunday in Allentown, Pa., he called police. Officers put out an all points bulletin.

Imagine Laguana's surprise when he found out the next day that Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who is on John McCain's short list for vice president, was riding around in the "stolen" van all day campaigning for the Republican presidential nominee-to-be.

"I don't know that anybody could have picked my jaw up off the floor," the professed "political junkie" told The Chronicle's Tanya Schevitz.

Pawlenty didn't actually steal the van. It was all a mix-up - and a strange one at that.

Laguana, whose company rents out high-end vans to rock bands, had arranged for an employee to pick up the vehicle at the Allentown Holiday Inn once the group Everclear was done with it. But when the employee arrived at the hotel, he was told that a man in a blue suit already had driven the van away.

The man in the blue suit was a police officer, assigned to Pawlenty, who was supposed to pick up a rental at the hotel - but he wound up at the wrong Holiday Inn picking up the keys to the wrong vehicle.

"The driver said it was a little weird that there were a couple beers in the van when he picked it up," Laguana said.

He might also have wondered why the governor needed a 24-foot-long Dodge Sprinter van, loaded with a 20-inch LCD video screen with a DVD, an Xbox 360 game system and iPod.

After driving Pawlenty around on Monday, the driver called the number on a contract the band had left in the van. That's when he learned he had the wrong vehicle.

Laguana is now negotiating with the McCain campaign to cover the van's $200-a-day rent.

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