Pubdate: Wed, 08 Aug 2001
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2001 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://www.seattletimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Carol M. Ostrom
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1405/a09.html

MEDICAL-MARIJUANA PURVEYOR MIGHT REORGANIZE, RELOCATE

Green Cross Patient Co-op will no longer distribute marijuana to patients 
at its current West Seattle location, but it may reorganize and reopen at a 
different location, said an attorney assisting the organization.

Green Cross has been shut down since it received a "cease and desist" 
letter from the Seattle Police Department on July 27. Police said the 
organization had come to their attention after neighbors complained.

Doug Hiatt, a lawyer who volunteers to help Green Cross, and Harry Bailey, 
director of police-community partnerships at the Police Department, said 
they were meeting to resolve the issue.

"The police are at the table, and they're talking to us, and looking at 
what they need to do," Hiatt said.

In the meantime, Hiatt said, Green Cross' patients were going elsewhere.

State law, passed by voter initiative in 1998, allows patients with certain 
diseases to legally grow and use marijuana with permission from their 
doctor. It allows them, or a designated caregiver, to possess a 60-day supply.

On one hand, said Bailey, police say the law does not allow Green Cross' 
Joanna McKee to act as caregiver for more than one patient at one time. 
McKee has said Green Cross helps 1,500 patients.

"We have laws on the books," Bailey said. "The Police Department isn't 
going to turn our heads and look the other way. We can't say that, and 
we're not going to say that."

On the other hand, Bailey added: "This is an unusual situation."

Bailey said neighborhood concerns about Green Cross' operations must be 
balanced with "people's rights to do what's legal in this state."

"In this city we are accustomed to sitting down and talking to people. 
Isn't that what community policing is all about? Sitting down and talking 
to people, and finding out where the happy medium is," he said.

After news of Green Cross' closing was reported last week, many patients 
contacted the mayor's office and Police Department.

"I'm not a physician," Bailey said. "But maybe there is a medicinal purpose 
to it. I would hate for us to start a war that might affect people who 
really need this stuff."

In the neighborhood, Kenny Wright, an unofficial block coordinator, said 
most neighbors didn't have a problem with Green Cross' operations there. 
"We all knew what was going on over there," he said. "But we've never 
associated crime with their business."

But Ed Cook, who used to work a graveyard shift and sleep during the day, 
said he was frequently awakened by people looking for Green Cross. He said 
some neighbors were upset that Green Cross was within a "drug-free" zone 
near Highland Park Elementary School.
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