Pubdate: Tue, 05 Aug 1997 Source: Conta Costa Times, (8/5/97) Subject: States wants to keep $60K it acquired in raid on pot club Contact: State wants to keep $60,000 it acquired in raid on pot club By David Holbrook TIMES OAKLAND BUREAU OAKLAND State officials will try to keep more than $60,000 in cash they seized during last year's controversial raid of San Francisco's medical marijuana club. In a petition filed last week in Alameda County Superior Court, state prosecutors claim the government has the authority to confiscate the cash because it comes from the proceeds of illegal marijuana sales at the club. State narcotics agents seized $63,137 in cash from the Market Street establishment during an Aug. 4, 1996 raid that led to criminal charges against six of the club's operators. State officials claim the club broke from its policy of providing pot to ailing adults and was selling it to healthy customers and juveniles. Officials from the state Attorney General's Office failed to return phone calls Monday. An attorney for club founder Dennis Peron said that Prop. 215, the medical marijuana initiative, passed a month after criminal charges were filed and should prohibit the confiscation of the cash. "Prop. 215) should apply retroactively," said attorney J. David Nick of San Francisco. "Therefore, these proceeds were not from an illegal operation and should be returned to buy more marijuana for patients. Nick noted the criminal charges accuse the defendants only of selling pot to people who didn't qualify for medical marijuana, but that the petition to seize the cash targets all of the club's sales as illegal. State officials should be forced to specify which portion of the proceeds came strictly from the sales named in the criminal charges, Nick said "They didn't bother to pursue charges for selling to the sick, so how can they take money that would be used to buy marijuana for the sick?" he said. In a telephone interview Monday afternoon, club spokeswoman Lynne Barnes said $63,000 would have provided the club with enough pot to supply its 12,000 customers for a week "It's not a huge loss for us, but it's that much more medicine that could have gone to our patients," said Barnes. State prosecutors were allowed to bring indictments against the club in Alameda County because one of their suppliers was an Oakland resident. A Superior Court judge is scheduled to rule later this month on a defense motion to move the trial to San Francisco.