Pubdate: Mon, 08 Jan 2007
Source: Tri-Valley Herald  (Pleasanton, CA)
Copyright: 2007sANG Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/742
Author: Brian Foley, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

HOW TRI-VALLEY CITIES KEEP CANNABIS CLUBS CANNED

Area Has Many Who Rely on Drug

Five years ago, Michelle London would burn marijuana into a butter 
and spread it on toast for her mother, dying of lung cancer. "She 
couldn't smoke it anymore," she recalled. "We put it on wheat toast. 
It worked. It was really a shock. It prolonged my mom's life." Today, 
London, 34, of Livermore, deals with diabetes, which has extended 
into gastroparesis, or nerve damage in her stomach. "My food stays in 
there for days and it ferments," she said. "I vomit a lot and get 
sick. ... People think I'm healthy or they think I'm a drug addict or 
a prankster or something."

London is one of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Tri-Valley residents 
who rely on cannabis to relieve their physical and psychological 
ailments. Their backgrounds are diverse, they suffer for a variety of 
reasons and many are reluctant to take addictive prescription drugs. 
And while they take to the freeway to obtain their medicine, they 
acknowledge a sharp contrast between the Tri-Valley and the larger 
cities: the conundrum of providing an illegal drug through dispensaries.

"For me, I'm younger, so the only burden is the additional wear and 
tear on the car and the time involved while driving," lifelong 
Livermore resident George Wilson said. "I've been fighting like hell 
for something (to open here). There's got to be a system where 
everyone is happy."

In the Valley, the latest battle is in Tracy, where the city's lone 
dispensary, the Valley Wellness Center, is fighting to stay open. 
City officials insist it doesn't comply with business code standards. 
An arbitration hearing took place Thursday and a decision is expected 
in the coming weeks.

"The nearest place you have to go is Oakland, possibly Hayward," said 
attorney James Anthony, the dispensary's defender. "Going south, 
you're talking about Bakersfield. Going north, Sacramento." Tracy 
resident Carl Hassell, who was at Thursday's hearing, listed about a 
half-dozen physical ailments he endures, including chronic arthritis. 
"I used to drive to Hayward in excruciating pain," he said. "The day 
I found out there was a dispensary in Tracy was the same day they 
were ordered to close, and I cried. I don't wish anyone in the world 
the type of pain I live with. And I'm 49 years old." Tracy is only 
the latest to just say no. Dublin has banned dispensaries. Last year, 
Pleasanton and Livermore extended moratoriums. And Manteca has 
indicated they are working on an ordinance to ban pot dispensaries. 
City officials in the Tri-Valley cite two main concerns they 
associate with dispensaries: They draw crime and they violate federal law.

However, advocates point to Oakland's four dispensaries as a 
successful system, borne out of Proposition 215, which legalized 
medicinal marijuana in 1996. Oakland passed regulations in 2004, 
which structured strict operation guidelines.

"I meet with them about once a quarter to talk about any problems," 
said Barbara Killey, a city administrative hearing officer. "In 
reality, I don't really hear of any problems. There are never any 
complaints. I think police departments that cite negative activity in 
Oakland are responding to incidents that happened prior to the 2004 ordinance."

However, dispensary opponents don't have to look that far. Last month 
in Hayward, the DEA raided a dispensary, discovering about 30 pounds 
of pot and $200,000 in cash.

"That was one touted as being a successful operation," Livermore 
Mayor Marhsall Kamena said. "And yet when the DEA raided them, the 
quantity of money they found made it clear that they weren't working 
within the boundaries the city established."

Scott Smith, a patient from Manteca, said the raid in Hayward 
demonstrated that regulations worked.

"That's why you need a certain kind of accountability," he said. "If 
you break the rules, you are not a viable part of the community." 
Dispensaries also require a considerable amount of city resources, 
something the suburbs would rather not undertake.

"They were the first in making medical marijuana dispensaries 
available to the public," Pleasanton Mayor Jennifer Hosterman said. 
"Because of that, we've had an opportunity to watch their programs, 
watch their successes and failures. While everyone recognizes that we 
need to make it available to those who are sick, the reality is that 
dispensaries have had problems."

Some of those problems include teenagers acquiring it, Hosterman 
said. "For us, it's a balancing act of the needs of the community 
with the safety of the community," she said. "Besides, the police did 
identify (the) rather easy availability of medical marijuana in the 
Tri-Valley. Your caregiver can get it for you. All you need is a 
letter from your doctor."

Tri-Valley residents can find it difficult to locate a suitable 
dispensary, London said. Her friend, Andrew Glazier of Livermore, 
maintains a blog called "Grow Love," featuring dispensary 
information. "In the city, people are forced into negotiating with a 
different political landscape," Glazier said. "Those hills are not 
just a geographical divide, they are a psychological divide. So 
there's no real urge to create a club here. For me, it's the traffic 
backup. I'm sick of sitting on (Interstate) 580."

Last month, advocates celebrated a small victory when Livermore 
balked at adopting a permanent ordinance. With its moratorium still 
intact, the City Council instead requested more information on 
successful operations in Oakland and other cities.

"All of the information that was presented to us by the staff was 
negative," Councilwoman Marj Leider said. "I hope they investigate 
whether there is anything positive."

Leider and Councilman Tom Reitter have indicated they would support a 
dispensary if they had no doubts of their safety.

"There are people who need medical marijuana, especially those who 
are on chemotherapy," Leider said. "I know people who have used it 
while on chemotherapy and don't use it anymore. They did not become 
addicted." Kamena opposes a dispensary in Livermore, saying he has to 
consider "the community standards."

"If Livermore continues with its ban, it's continuing the status 
quo," Kamena said. "We aren't taking medicine away from anybody." 
Meanwhile, local patients describe themselves as regular people, 
concerned about the future of access. Glazier lives with a severe 
back injury he sustained while working in construction. "My back is 
stiff. I go to bed. If I roll over in the middle of the night, which 
every human being does, I wake up and I can't go back to sleep," he 
said. "It'll drive you crazy. If I go to a doctor, they might 
prescribe Vicodin or some heavy drug like that. In other words, 
they'll give me opiates. Anything that is an analog of an opiate is addictive."

William Dolphin, spokesman for American for Safe Access in Oakland, 
offered a different take of why big cities are more receptive to 
dispensaries than the Tri-Valley.

"Places like San Francisco, Santa Cruz, even Santa Rosa and Oakland, 
have had more direct experience - put it more simply, because of 
AIDS," he said. "There was no question that that was a serious 
medical emergency that needed to be dealt with. With the suburbs, 
it's a slightly different situation with different people. However, 
cancer is something that affects most families across the country. As 
more people become aware of who medical marijuana patients are, 
attitudes within communities will change."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake