Pubdate: Mon, 15 Jun 2009
Source: Gilroy Dispatch, The (CA)
Copyright: 2009 The Gilroy Dispatch
Contact:  http://www.gilroydispatch.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3377
Author: Chris Bone
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?161 (Cannabis - Regulation)

COUNCIL WILL NOT BLOCK MEDILEAF

Council members say they will stay out of staff's way  as they make a 
decision regarding an application for  the county's first medical 
marijuana dispensary in  north Gilroy. Meanwhile, police are still 
investigating  the federal implications of allowing a dispensary, 
which would not likely have a significant impact on  crime, according 
to data from similar cities and law  enforcement.

Gilroy's potential business, MediLeaf, could land at  1207 First St., 
near Togo's and First Street Coffee, if  city staff sign off on the 
business application. The  applicants are Morgan Hill residents and 
real estate  professionals Batzi Kuburovich and Neil 
Forrest.  Medical marijuana is allowed - tacitly or overtly - at  the 
state and local level, but prohibited at the  federal level, which, 
along with the possibility of  increased crime, is what Gilroy police 
and opponents here are most concerned about. Opponents also 
worry  people will simply feign symptoms to acquire  prescriptions.

Proponents, including many Gilroyans, say the  dispensary will 
decrease street-level sales and  associated crime while providing a 
service to people  with debilitating ailments. They also point to 
statistics from cities with medical marijuana  businesses that show 
crime trends have not seen any  major changes since those businesses opened.

Tulare - a city of about 52,000 just 45 miles southeast  of Fresno 
with similar agricultural roots as Gilroy's -  allowed two medical 
marijuana dispensaries to open in  2006 and 2008. Since they opened, 
police reported only  one break-in, Tulare Police Department Capt. 
Jerry  Breckinridge said. A couple of non-drug related  assaults have 
also occurred, but nothing like the  "riffraff" or rampant crime 
people in the relatively  conservative city once feared, he and others said.

"All the controversy has died down. We just really  haven't had any 
incidents with either clinic," said  Tulare Mayor Craig Vejvoda, 
whose financial advisor's  office sits across the street from one of 
the dispensaries.

Most authorities in metropolitan areas such as San  Francisco and Los 
Angeles reported a similar lack of  dispensary-related crime. More 
than 200 dispensaries  operate in the greater Los Angeles area, and 
aside from  occasional raids on dispensaries by the federal Drug 
Enforcement Agency - which U.S. Attorney General Eric  Holder has 
ordered to be relaxed even as his office  prosecutes earlier 
marijuana cases - the Los Angeles  County Sheriff's Department has 
not noticed an uptick  in crime associated with the shops.

"The medical marijuana dispensaries in our jurisdiction  have been 
relatively benign," L.A. Sheriff Spokesperson  Steve Whitmore said. 
"We don't have (break-ins or  assaults), and we have a very open-door 
relationship  with the businesses because the sheriff believes it's 
important to be a part of the community and not just an  enforcer."

Californians approved a medical marijuana bill in 1996  that allows 
the possession and cultivation of medical  marijuana for people with 
proper prescriptions, but  federal law views the plant as illegal - a 
point that  rattles Gilroy police officers and Councilman 
Bob  Dillon. Neither Santa Clara County nor Gilroy have 
any  legislation on the books, but local council members,  including 
Dillon, said they were disinclined to create  a Gilroy ordinance in 
the absence of any residential  outcry.

"We need to let the process go through," Councilman  Craig Gartman said.

The application would only go before the Planning  Commission and 
City Council if a community member with  a vested or nearby business 
interest appealed  MediLeaf's potential approval. Staff could also 
hinge  any approval on operating conditions similar to those  for 
liquor stores.

To avoid the proliferation of dispensaries in its city,  Tulare's 
City Council passed a law limiting them to one  per 25,000 residents. 
In Goleta - a city of about  59,000 just west of Santa Barbara - the 
council has  expressed support for medical marijuana, but the body 
voted unanimously earlier this month in favor of a law  banning 
dispensaries while it considers more specific  regulations. In the 
meantime, Gilroy officials seem  posed to play it by ear.

"I haven't heard any reason why the council should get  involved," 
Councilman Perry Woodward said. "As far as I  understand it, this is 
a lawful business and doesn't  present any issues that wouldn't be 
presented if  someone wanted to open a pharmacy."

Not so, said Gary Stutheit, owner and operator of  Gilroy Medical 
Pharmacy at the corner of Sixth and  Princevalle streets. The 
friendly apothecary isn't  opposed to medical marijuana in principle, 
but he said  he would never sell any because it violates federal 
law  and he has heard of nothing but problems.

"I really think these places get out of hand and turn  into 
money-makers, and people abuse the system with  phony prescriptions 
and sell the drugs on the street,"  Stutheit said. He pointed to the 
Oct. 2008 arrest of  Adroa Anderson, a Santa Cruz man who used a 
doctor-prescribed medical marijuana card to buy  marijuana he then 
repackaged and sold on the streets -  racking up $100,000 and four 
guns over a two year  period - police said. Anderson remains in jail, 
according to records.

"It's inviting more criminal activity there, and we  probably don't 
need that right now," Stutheit said.  Burglars have broken into his 
store "a couple of times  over the years," he said.

Currently, residents who have prescriptions have to  drive to Redwood 
City, Millbrae, Oakland, San Francisco  or Santa Cruz to purchase 
medical marijuana, which  dispensaries buy from private, licensed 
growers who  usually sell a pound for $3,500 to $4,000, Kuburovich 
said. A store-bought ounce, in turn, goes for about  $400 - or about 
$6,400 per pound - excluding an extra  $37 per ounce for unspecified 
taxes. Any profit will  pay off overhead, said Kuburovich. Legal 
marijuana  comes in all types, similar to tea, and is typically 
bottled in orange plastic vials. Dispensaries - as with  any other 
prescription drug distributor - do not charge  sales tax.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom