Pubdate: Mon, 19 Jan 2004
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
- -0401190197jan19,1,4542629.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Copyright: 2004 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82
Author:  By Michael Martinez, Tribune national correspondent
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

OAKLAND PLANS TO SNUFF OUT SOME POT SHOPS

The City Council Ponders Clamping Down On Medical Marijuana Dispensaries In 
Downtown Area

OAKLAND --  When Stacie Traylor opened a medical marijuana dispensary in a 
vacant art-deco floral store four years ago, it stood among only a few.

Now the gritty downtown quarter is a major hub, with as many as a dozen pot 
clubs surrounding Telegraph Avenue, and Traylor is upset at the notoriety 
that has come to the city's cannabis corner.

Some shops allow marijuana smoke to waft onto sidewalks, a violation of at 
least the city's smoke-free public building ordinance. They post men 
conspicuously outside the front door, including one coffeehouse worker 
soliciting passersby with palm cards, prompting neighborhood complaints 
that the guards act like street-corner hustlers. A youth center for gays, 
lesbians and bisexuals said it was forced to close in November because of 
the nearby pot clubs.

The area in the shadow of City Hall has been nicknamed "Oaksterdam," a 
reference to Amsterdam's freewheeling pot scene.

This week, the city of Oakland may be ready to clamp down. A proposal 
expected to go before the City Council on Tuesday would impose a cap on the 
number of shops, forcing some to close.

Such regulation could be contentious in an area that provided strong 
support for California's Proposition 215, the 1996 ballot initiative 
legalizing medical marijuana.

Cannabis shop owners tread a perilous path between state and federal laws. 
They say the state law exempts their shops from prosecution, but federal 
laws makes marijuana use illegal.

Brenda Brown, 46, is a supporter of the clubs.

"If it weren't for them, I'd be dead. I'd give up," Brown said outside a 
coffeehouse that sells marijuana from a back room.

Brown, a therapist and advocate for the disabled, said she uses medical 
marijuana for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, and shuns prescription 
painkillers because they make her feel "like a drug addict." She was 
outraged that her favorite dispensaries might have to close.

Fewer Clubs, Fees Proposed

A staff proposal before the City Council would allow only three medical 
marijuana clubs and impose licensing fees ranging from $5,000 to $15,000, a 
city legislative analyst said. None of the dozen or so dispensaries and 
suppliers is licensed by the city or state, the official said.

Many medical marijuana advocates said they welcome reasonable city or state 
regulations because licensing could stave off federal raids.

"I'm pro-regulation, but I'm against restrictions," said Jeff Jones, 29, 
who was designated by the city in the late 1990s to distribute marijuana. 
His dispensary was quickly shut down by the federal Drug Enforcement 
Administration.

Jones now issues only photo identification cards through his Oakland 
Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, which validates physicians' recommendations 
for medical cannabis and oversees 10,000 regular cardholders who show the 
ID to club operators to make purchases. He said a limit of three 
dispensaries would be too low.

The "Oaksterdam" nickname for the Uptown neighborhood has embarrassed city 
officials, who recently redeveloped the elegant City Hall plaza three 
blocks away and hope to extend the revitalization to the shuttered Fox 
movie palace that is near at least four pot clubs on Telegraph Avenue at 
18th Street.

Cannabis shop owner Traylor, 29, says running a dispensary is a serious 
business.

"It's not a joke for me," she said. "It's not Oaksterdam. It's not 
Amsterdam. It's not recreational."

Traylor, who was named to a City Hall group studying the controversy, 
added, "If what happens with the city results in a federal shutdown, that 
would put a lot of people in danger and it could affect the economics of 
Oakland."

One councilman has said he would not mind closing all the dispensaries. 
Mayor Jerry Brown, the former California governor who lives several blocks 
from the cannabis quarter, has asked for an inquiry and is perceived to be 
taking a cautious stand as he considers a run for state attorney general.

A recent council meeting was packed largely with advocates of the state's 
Compassionate Use Act, which allows marijuana as a medicine for AIDS, 
cancer, arthritis and other ailments.

"Our issue is not whether we should have them. It's a question of where 
they should be located and how they should operate," said Willie Yee, 
senior policy adviser to Vice Mayor Henry Chang Jr.

"It's a classic land-use issue," Yee said. "You can walk down the street 
and you can just smell the stuff."

Friction With Neighbors

A few months ago, leaders of the Sexual Minority Alliance of Alameda County 
(or Smaac) Youth Center publicly complained that the facility was 
surrounded by at least eight cannabis clubs, including two that flanked it. 
The center opened in 1998 when Jones' club was the only one around.

The center's officers said patients were trying to resell pot to the 
youths. Cannabis club owners said the youths also caused problems by 
loitering on the street well after the clubs closed at 8 p.m.

Smaac Executive Director Roosevelt Moosby declined comment other than to 
say, "We're just really drained by all of this."

Outside one of the marijuana dispensaries, the 420 Club, a man who gave his 
name as "Q" was standing guard, checking co-op cards before allowing 
visitors to enter the dispensary.

The city recently threatened the club with $500 fines for letting patrons 
smoke inside. Among those who walk past the Telegraph clubs are pupils from 
Lighthouse Community Charter School, where director Jenna Stauffer said her 
kindergartners and 1st graders are confused by the smoke odors and her 7th 
graders joke about it.

When "Q'" was asked why almost all of the visitors to his club on a recent 
afternoon appeared to be able-bodied young men in their 20s, he insisted 
they possessed valid cards and added that their illnesses may not be easily 
visible.

As for public complaints that he and other guards resembled street 
hustlers, he said robberies remain a threat.

"This is downtown Oakland," he said. "I'm just as nervous and scared as you 
are."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman