cannabisnews.com: Committee To Study 'Oaksterdam' Idea





Committee To Study 'Oaksterdam' Idea
Posted by CN Staff on September 24, 2003 at 07:54:41 PT
By Laura Counts, Staff Writer
Source: Oakland Tribune 
Oakland -- Faced with a room packed with worried medical marijuana advocates and some angry representatives of a youth center, a City Council committee Tuesday rejected a proposal that would have snuffed out the budding "Oaksterdam" district. Instead, the council will meet in closed session with its lawyers next week to discuss the legal ramifications of regulating pot clubs, reconvene a working group of city staff and medical cannabis advocates, and bring back a plan to the Public Safety Committee Oct. 28. 
"We need to determine how to regulate and create a safe space for youth organizations and (cannabis) providers," said Vice Mayor Nancy Nadel (Downtown-West Oakland), who has been working with the clubs and the youth center that is surrounded by them. City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente (San Antonio-Fruitvale) had wanted the city to designate one medical cannabis provider as the city's official agent, giving it sole authority to distribute pot to ill people in Oakland. But advocates convinced the committee that was a bad idea, and wouldleave the city even more vulnerable if federal agents decided to shut the single association down. "It's like putting a big bullseye on it and saying, 'John Ashcroft, come here,' " said Rebecca Kaplan, a community activist and former City Council candidate. The city had reached an agreement in 1998 with the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to act as its agent in an attempt to give the club immunity from prosecution. Oakland policymakers have long supported medical marijuana and Proposition 215, which made it legal for ill people to use pot in the state. But the federal government went after the Coop -- as the cannabis club is known -- soon after the city deputized it. The club stopped distributing marijuana and is still embroiled in federal litigation, but in the past few years, other providers have opened shop. The clubs have proliferated, mostly along Broadway and Telegraph between 17th and 19th streets, and the area has taken on the nickname "Oaksterdam" as in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The formerly bleak stretch has developed a bit of a European air, with colorful coffeeshops with tables on the sidewalks. Those seeking marijuana can buy it in back rooms or basements, and often smoke on the premises, according to city staff. Oaksterdam supporters say the area hasn't looked so good in years, and shutting it down would put the neighborhood back in the dumps. The city had ignored the clubs until the Sexual Minority Alliance of Alameda County (SMAAC) -- a program for gay, lesbian, bisexual and "questioning" youth -- as well as media reports pointed out there are at least seven pot clubs in the "uptown" area. Oakland Hearing Officer Larry Carroll said there may be as many as 10 or 11 distributors now. He said there was a flier on his car Tuesday for another new club on Webster Street, offering a $10 discount on $100 purchases. The SMAAC youth center is now sandwiched between two clubs, and director Roosevelt Mosby told the committee he wants the city to find his organization a new home immediately. "You need to lift us up out of Oaksterdam immediately and put us somewhere else," he said. "We moved downtown because it was safe, but it's not safe anymore." Since SMAAC began complaining, the relationship between the youth group and the pot clubs have grown tense. And even among the marijuana providers there is some discord, with some organizations unhappy with the conduct of others. Jeff Jones, founder of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Club -- which has been held up as a model for responsible medical pot distribution -- said the discussion has made it clear that some problems are developing in the neighborhood. But he offered no immediate suggestions, urging the committee to send the issue to the cannabis working group. Nadel suggested that the city could adopt a rule similar to one imposed on liquor stores, prohibiting two within 1,000 feet of each other. She also suggested some clubs could be grandfathered in, and a moratorium imposed on new business licenses for clubs until the issue is worked out -- although some clubs appeared to be operating without licenses, and none had apparently disclosed their business when applying to the city. Some of the distributors are nonprofits, while others appear to be for-profit entities. "I urge people at this point to even refrain from using the term Oaksterdam.... To me, it's more suggestive of recreational use, and we want to keep under the radar of the federal government," Nadel said. Source: Oakland Tribune (CA)Author: Laura Counts, Staff WriterPublished: Wednesday, September 24, 2003Copyright: 2003 MediaNews Group, Inc. Contact: triblet angnewspapers.com Website: http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Related Articles & Web Site:OCBChttp://www.rxcbc.org/De La Fuente Declares War Against Oaksterdam http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17363.shtmlMarijuana 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 
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #6 posted by FoM on September 25, 2003 at 18:52:06 PT
Related News Article from KRON TV
Oakland Struggles With Pot Clubs 
 
 
September 25, 2003 OAKLAND (KRON) -- Oakland is wrestling with what to do about a growing population of marijuana dispensers. When the City tried to regulate medical marijuana, the feds shut the operations down. And there's a growing consensus that "Oaksterdam" isn't working either. "Squeaky" says Oakland's hands-off approach to medical marijuana is just what the doctor ordered. Squeaky has plenty of choices downtown - along Broadway and Telegraph there are now at least 10 medical marijuana despensers. Some are no-frills card-and-buy stops, others stylish cafes selling brownies with and without. Oakland tried many years ago to regulate pot by designating the Cannabis Buyers' Club as city agents - too high on the radar, the feds shut them down. Now the challenge for Oakland is to regulate legit marijuana sales without atracting the feds. Oakland vice mayor Nancy Nadel says, "The problem we have is how do you regulate something you have to keep quiet... and don't want to call attention to?" The city's renewed interest in regulation is prompted in part by complaints from the Sexual Minority Alliance of Alameda County, a youth counseling program. Once almost alone on a deserted strip of Telgraph, the center now finds itself sandwiched between two marijuana clubs and near several more. Youth counselor Roosevelt Mosby says, "When you have a medical marijuana district aournd a youth center you're going to introduce young people into drugs. That's what you're doing." Angel McCrary Raich is a longtime, high-profile medical marijuana user and advocate. She now finds herself in the unusual position of advocating for more government regulation. "It's very difficult because it's all grey," she says. "Sometimes what you think is best... is not best for everybody." The city council is consulting its attorneys on the possible solutions which include licensing one or several dispensers. No one in Oakland is talking about eliminating them entirely, that talk would be in Washington, DC. Regulation of the growing "Oaksterdam" district will be the topic of a public safety committee meeting on October 28th. Copyright 2003, KRON 4http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=1458296
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by FoM on September 25, 2003 at 08:30:03 PT
Related Article from Snipped Source
Local Pot Clubs Under Fire from Oakland Council 
City Considers Limiting Number of Suppliers Janine DeFao, Chronicle Staff Writer  Thursday, September 25, 2003  The Oakland City Council is poised to crack down on some of the nearly dozen medical marijuana clubs that have quietly cropped up in a small area north of City Hall. The council's public safety committee is considering restricting -- or even shutting -- some of the clubs. On Tuesday night, committee members rejected a proposal to close all but one of the pot clubs, delaying the issue for a month for further study. Some members expressed concern about the concentration of clubs in an area downtown that has been dubbed "Oaksterdam" after pot-tolerant Amsterdam. "I'm not comfortable with one but I'm not comfortable with an unlimited number, and I'm not comfortable with the concentration," said Councilwoman Jean Quan. "We have a right as a city to regulate them." But medical marijuana patients and their advocates who packed a City Hall hearing room argued that limiting the number of clubs to one could be a death sentence. "You're inviting the federal government to come in and shut you down," said medical cannabis supporter Chris Conrad. "You run the risk of setting up a club that will be wiped out and patients will be back on the street." That's what happened in 1998 when Oakland designated the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to run the city's medical pot distribution program. Within two months, the federal government issued an injunction barring the group from dispensing pot. Since then, other clubs have stepped in to fill the void, rapidly proliferating in the past two years. City officials admit they were unaware that so many pot clubs, a number of which appear from the street to be simply cafes or coffee shops, had opened, primarily along a two-block stretch of Broadway and Telegraph Avenue near the 19th Street BART station. 
Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/09/25/BA11872.DTL
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by SoberStoner on September 24, 2003 at 18:33:53 PT
Some quotes
"It's like putting a big bullseye on it and saying, 'John Ashcroft, come here,' " said Rebecca Kaplan, a community activist and former City Council candidate."I urge people at this point to even refrain from using the term Oaksterdam.... To me, it's more suggestive of recreational use, and we want to keep under the radar of the federal government," Nadel said."When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny." Thomas JeffersonRead the first two, then read the last one again...then tell me America is still the land of the free.With those thought in mind, I'll leave you with one more Jefferson quote that seems more and more approriate with each day under the Bush regime...."A little rebellion now and then is a good thing."SS
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by john wayne on September 24, 2003 at 17:06:59 PT
so the council will meet behind closed doors
> "You need to lift us up out of Oaksterdam immediately and put us somewhere else," [SMAAC youth center director Roosevelt Mosby] said. "We moved downtown because it was safe, but it's not safe anymore."This guy is hallucinating heavily. This area of downtown Oakland has been urban blight territory for decades.  
I mean, in this very same article, the writer admits:> The formerly bleak stretch has developed a bit of a European air...I wonder what kind of trouble Mosby is in, to be obviously lying in a public forum?
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by ekim on September 24, 2003 at 12:55:41 PT
Kucinich events
http://www.kucinich.us/schedule.htmSept.27 Sat.2:30 – 4:30 pm
San Francisco, California
Event: Public Panel Discussion and Public Forum
Location: LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street, San Francisco
Host Committee: Enrique Asis, VP Political Affairs, Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club; Sally Buchmann, Co-chair Northern California, San Francisco Bay Pride Network; Denise D’Anne, community activist, San Francisco City and County Commissioner; Pamela (Pam Pam) Gaddies, community activist; Michael Goldstein, Board Member, Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club; Esperanza Macias, community activist; Terrance Marks, Man2Man Project, Tommi Mecca, longtime queer and anti-war activist; Randall Miller, Grants Director, Vanguard Foundation; Andre Robertson, Director of Prevention, Black Coalition on AIDS, Howard Wallace, union/community organizer; Peter Wong, Board Member, Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, Black Coalition on AIDS; Man2Man Project
call 415-455-9502 for more information
event flyerSunday, September 2812:00 noon – 1:30 pm
Los Angeles, California
Event: Yoga Expo
Location: Los Angeles Convention Center,
Local Contact: Nina Merson 310-838-5600
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by Max Flowers on September 24, 2003 at 09:46:48 PT
De La Fuente is fearmongering
This stuff about "the kids aren't safe" is a bunch of malarkey... I live in the bay area and have been down to "Oaksterdam" many times, and had seen that area before the clubs as well, and let me tell you the area is *safer* now with the clubs there. There is a steady flow of people from all over the bay area and beyond, so it there is more public decency to be found now. Before the clubs this area was sort of a god-forsaken inner city type of area. And indeed just out of range of the clubs the homelessness and shady types and street crazies resume.The "danger" that De La Fuente is worried about is the risk that one of the kids might see the flow of happy people in and out of the next-door buildings and ask a question about it, which will put his youth center workers in danger of having to tell the children the truth: that the clubs sell medical cannabis and that some people in California are eligible to use it under doctors' permission.It is no different from any other busy business like a McDonald's or something. People coming in (but cards checked at the door), then getting what they need and leaving, brown bag in hand.
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment