Pubdate: Wed,  5 Oct 2005
Source: Oakland Tribune, The (CA)
Copyright: 2005 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.oaklandtribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/314
Author: Karen Holzmeister, Staff Writer
Note: Staff writer Josh Richman contributed to this report.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

COUNTY STREAMLINES POT CLUB ORDINANCE

Dispensaries Get One More Chance to Apply for Three Operating Permits

OAKLAND - Last October, with angry residents smoking mad, Alameda
County supervisors banned new medical marijuana clinics in
unincorporated areas and launched efforts to regulate seven existing
dispensaries.

A year later, one cannabis club has closed, but the county still
hasn't succeeded in its announced goals of halving the remaining six
outlets or stanching crimes that now include murder, robbery, violent
assaults, holdups and related home-invasion robberies.

County supervisors Tuesday revised and streamlined an ordinance
originally adopted in June to give three dispensaries in Ashland and
Cherryland one more chance to apply for three prized operating permits.

Three other dispensariesf rom the same communities got their
applications in by the initial late-August deadline.

While sheriff's deputies hope to disclose which clinics will be in
within 30 to 70 days, it became evident Tuesday that successful permit
holders could be sitting on a gold mine.

Thousands of cards, enabling holders to buy marijuana from
dispensaries, have been distributed throughout the county, said Pam
Willow, an analyst with the county's Public Health Department.

"There is a massive number to deal with," she said, referring to cards
that may have been issued locally - perhaps from the Oakland Cannabis
Buyers Club - or elsewhere.

In addition to medical marijuana clubs in unincorporated areas, there
are only a few dispensaries in Berkeley, Oakland and Hayward to supply
patrons who also come from throughout the Bay Area and Central Valley.

The county is attempting to find an agency to disburse the cards and
do away with what Willow referred to as a "weak link" - doctors
providing medical marijuana certificates, a prelude to obtaining cards
- - to people who may not be medically needy.

"We have to make sure those (who get marijuana) actually need it,"
Supervisor Scott Haggerty said.

"We know there's abuse," he added, hurting people with - for example -
terminal illnesses for whom medical marijuana is beneficial.

At 12:30 p.m., just before a vote, Undersheriff Mike Peterson and
Capt. Steve Roderick emptied the board room so deputies and Health
Department workers could investigate a suspicious drink container
found under a chair.

After the all-clear sounded at 1:15 p.m., supervisors Haggerty, Alice
Lai-Bitker and Nate Miley approved the medical marijuana
ordinance changes.

Supervisor Keith Carson, who had been present for most of the morning
meeting, was absent. Supervisor Gail Steele spent most of the day at
an Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum governing authority meeting.

Later Tuesday, attorneys went before a Superior Court judge seeking a
preliminary injunction against the ordinance's enforcement.

Judge Judith Ford initially said she was not inclined to grant the
injunction because the plaintiffs, who are involved in Republican
politics, neither seem likely to win their case nor have shown any
imminent, irreparable harm they would suffer without such a court order.

San Lorenzo attorney Peter Hagberg claimed the ordinance directly
conflicts with federal law, yet Ford seemed to agree with Assistant
County Counsel Donna Ziegler that the county isn't cultivating,
possessing or dispensing marijuana, just placing controls on sites
that do.

Ford continued Tuesday's court hearing until Oct. 21 so she can review
whether the changes would affect her ruling. Supervisors are scheduled
to formally adopt the ordinance's changes Tuesday.

To use a baseball metaphor, residents of unincorporated areas went 0
for 3 when they failed - in turn - to persuade supervisors to
eliminate all marijuana sales outlets, centralize all sales at
Fairmont Hospital in San Leandro or create one sales site in an
industrial area away from homes and families.

Lou Andrade, whose Cherryland home is close to one of the clinics,
cited a "general decline" in the neighborhood, which he attributed in
large part to "parasites" who hang around the clinics.

He suggested the county toughen its monitoring by requiring clinic
patrons to have appointments, such as at the state Department of Motor
Vehicles or Kaiser hospitals, to stagger the numbers of people there
at any one time.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake