cannabisnews.com: De La Fuente Declares War Against Oaksterdam Clubs





De La Fuente Declares War Against Oaksterdam Clubs
Posted by CN Staff on September 20, 2003 at 07:40:29 PT
By Laura Casey, Staff Writer
Source: Oakland Tribune 
Oakland -- If City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente has his way, Oaksterdam -- downtown Oakland's web of eight or so medicinal cannabis clubs -- will be a hazy memory. "We want to be true to the policy of the city," De La Fuente said, referring to a city ordinance allowing the operation of only one medicinal cannabis club. He wants the city to enforce that law, which the City Council Public Safety Committee will review Tuesday. 
"There should not be more than one (club) to sell and we shouldn't be an open door to people who want to sell medical marijuana for recreational purposes, which is what they are doing," he added. But if all the marijuana-dispensing clubs are closed, say owners of both the cannabis clubs and other businesses, thousands of very ill medical marijuana patients who visit the area will not get their medicine. And, they say, the now lively commercial district, bounded by 17th and 19th streets and Telegraph Avenue and Broadway, will be come a ghost town without the cafes and res- taurants that attract cannabis-using patients and downtown business people alike. "If every one of the pot clubs closed tomorrow, the economy in this area would go to (the dumps)," said Mario Pacetti, owner of Fat Cat Cafe, which he said serves both workers at the Federal building and medicinal marijuana buyers. Part of the problem with the cannabis clubs, De La Fuente said, is they are operating outside city, state and local laws. The city tried to legitimize use of medical marijuana by deputizing the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative on Broad-way. Its founder, Jeff Jones, pioneered standards that made his business a nonprofit, educational venture. Still, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency shut it down in 1998. The issue went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled clubs could not use a medical necessity defense, but left open some legal avenues for clubs to pursue. In the meantime, several cannabis clubs have sprung up around the original Broadway shop, even though it no longer dispenses cannabis. Police, acting under council policy and swamped with higher priorities, essentially turn a blind eye. De La Fuente's plan has the support of Interim City Manager Deborah Edgerly, who said the clubs are not properly monitored. "I am trying to get ahead of the problem, for once, before it becomes a problem," Edgerly said. "Once we certify one, we will shut the rest down." Calling Oaksterdam a problem is a matter of perception, said many in the district Friday. One coffee shop and cannabis club owner, who asked that his name not be used for fear of a crackdown by federal authorities, said it makes sense that several medical cannabis suppliers occupy one spot. "It gives the patient a chance to shop, look and find the best stuff and the best price," he said. Some marijuana users are allergic to certain strains of marijuana, and different clubs carry different products. Plus, he said, zoning ordinances keep the clubs far from schools and other areas where children congregate. It is quiet and clean in the area. Coffee shops greet customers in a district dotted with boarded-up buildings and graffiti. Medical marijuana users trickle in and out of the coffee shops' back rooms, some hobbling around on canes, some appearing to be healthy. The club owner said up to1,000 people visit the area's cannabis clubs each day, some coming from as far away as the Sacramento Valley to buy the medicine and to shop Oakland. He also pays about $250,000 in state, federal and city taxes, he said. All his employees have health insurance benefits. He said he is a respectable business owner -- his coffee shop is clean and well-run -- and is providing a service the majority of California voters agreed was humane for very ill patients. And he is part of the neighborhood revitalization, he said. Shop owners, such as Tom Grossi of Oakland Coin and Jewelry Exchange, agree. Grossi said there has been a noticeable improvement in the quality of services and amount of foot traffic in the years the clubs have been open. Plus, he said, the people who frequent the coffee shops to buy medicinal marijuana are often very ill, he said. "I can't emphasize that enough," he said. "If you sit there on a daily basis, you will see people who are definitely ill and seeking comfort and solace and relief." Vice Mayor Nancy Nadel (Downtown-West Oakland) said she does not believe De La Fuente's plan to close down all the clubs in Oaksterdam has the full council's support. Nadel said she would like to see the city and the clubs work together to develop operating standards so more than one club could dispense marijuana to ill patients. "I don't think just one is appropriate," Nadel said.The Public Safety Committee will review the issue at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Hearing Room One at City Hall, One Frank Ogawa Plaza. Source: Oakland Tribune (CA)Author: Laura Casey, Staff WriterPublished: Saturday, September 20, 2003Copyright: 2003 MediaNews Group, Inc. Contact: triblet angnewspapers.com Website: http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Related Articles & Web Site:OCBChttp://www.rxcbc.org/Marijuana Clubs Create California's Oaksterdamhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17040.shtmlOakland District Evolves Into Cannabis Community http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17031.shtmlBrown Embarks on Probe of Oaksterdam Pot Clubs http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17026.shtml 
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on September 20, 2003 at 14:30:14 PT
Off Topic: E-Mail Virus Alert
Virus Posing As Microsoft E-Mail Spreads FastSwen, a blended-threat worm, has accounted for more than 35,000 interceptions, according to E-mail filtering firm MessageLabs.  
  
Less than 24 hours after first being detected, the Swen blended-threat worm picked up steam Friday, gained a foothold in the United States and the United Kingdom, and accounted for more than 35,000 interceptions by E-mail filtering firm MessageLabs. Swen, also called W32/Swen MM, Gibe, and W32/Gibe-F, masquerades as E-mail from Microsoft and purports to carry a security update as its file attachment. The worm can also propagate over Internet Relay Chat and peer-to-peer files sharing networks such as Kazaa, as well as over network shares within the firewall if a machine inside a company is infected. 
 Complete Article: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=15000134
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Comment #4 posted by VitaminT on September 20, 2003 at 13:55:46 PT
I feel like making a campaign contribution.
Who's running against this De La Fuente person?
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Comment #3 posted by Sam Adams on September 20, 2003 at 13:12:12 PT
Don't go out there!
"Part of the problem with the cannabis clubs, De La Fuente said, is they are operating outside city, state and local laws."Just what exactly does that mean? Have I been "operating inside" the law my whole life and I just didn't know it? Do I go to bed and wake up and eat breakfast "inside" the law? How nice of them to permit my existence. This guy's like a pocket fascist. The small-time politicos are the worst of all, like a bad minor league baseball player.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on September 20, 2003 at 09:40:43 PT
Just a Note About E-Mail List
Sorry about no e-mail list but it hasn't worked out and when things don't work out I feel it often is for the best. 
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Comment #1 posted by Jose Melendez on September 20, 2003 at 08:54:01 PT
see?
"Once we certify one, we will shut the rest down." Does that sound fair, or dare I say, balanced?
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