Pubdate: Mon, 06 Aug 2007
Source: Bakersfield Californian, The (CA)
Copyright: 2007 The Bakersfield Californian
Contact:  http://www.bakersfield.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/36
Author: James Burger, Californian staff writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

LOCAL MARIJUANA SHOP REOPENS

One of Bakersfield's medical marijuana dispensaries has  reopened, 
two weeks after it locked its doors in the  wake of federal pot raids.

Jim McGowen has re-opened American Caregivers  Collective on Gilmore 
Avenue just off Buck Owens  Boulevard in Bakersfield.

He is risking arrest and prosecution, he said, because  his patients 
need his help.

"We had 2,000 phone calls in the first three days (of  closure)," 
McGowen said outside his dispensary Monday.  "We had so many people suffering."

But McGowen is taking a risk.

Medical marijuana is legal under state law. But it is  illegal under 
federal statutes. In July, Kern County  Sheriff Donny Youngblood, who 
regulated shops under  county ordinance, helped federal drug agents 
raid  Nature's Medicinal Cooperative in Oildale.

McGowen's business and two other local dispensaries  closed in the 
wake of those raids.

"Even with shutting down, I'm wondering if I'll be  arrested and 
thrown in prison for what I've already  done," McGowen said when he 
closed his business.

Now, he said, he is making the decision to stay open on  a day-by-day 
basis. He said he's struggling to balance  the risk of arrest with 
the needs of his patients.

"Going to jail is the downside. We're trying to decide  how to keep 
it going and not go to jail," McGowen said.

Youngblood said reopening is definitely a risk for  medical marijuana 
businesses. He said he intends to  inform federal agents that a 
dispensary has re-opened.

"I will go to the feds and ask them to come back," he said.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents had begun to  investigate all 
of Bakersfield's dispensaries before  the Oildale raid, Youngblood 
said, and could easily  pick up that investigation again.

"I think he has probably opened (himself) to  retroactive 
investigation," the sheriff said.

If the federal government chooses to do other  dispensary raids in 
Bakersfield, Youngblood said, he  intends to assist federal agents once again.

A slow but steady stream of patients visited American  Caregiver's Monday.

Most did not want to speak with a reporter or share  their names.

But patient Diane Leedham said she was forced to drive  long miles 
after Bakersfield's dispensaries closed to  obtain a medicine 
permitted under state law.

"I had to drive out of county 300 miles," she said.

Leedham said McGowen is brave to reopen his shop and  government 
leaders should be brave enough to uphold  state law.

"We voted for this," she said. "Where are our  representatives?"
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom