cannabisnews.com: Policing Pot Cafes is Really The City's Burden Policing Pot Cafes is Really The City's Burden Posted by CN Staff on October 20, 2003 at 07:52:42 PT By Chip Johnson Source: San Francisco Chronicle Oakland is one of the Bay Area's only big cities with a cottage industry growing right next door to City Hall. But in this case, some city officials are unwilling to let the market decide. A small community of medical marijuana clinics has emerged in the past year along Telegraph Avenue in downtown Oakland, creating an alternative -- and questionably legal -- health-care district known to the locals as "Oaksterdam.'' Some of the clinics are in the nondescript buildings along the avenue, but others, like the Lemon Drop on Telegraph Avenue and the Bulldog Cafe on Broadway, operate as public cafes with one notable difference: Some shops feature private areas that are accessible only to members carrying city-issued medical pot cards. Five years after the City Council passed the nation's first medical marijuana ordinance, sanctioning the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative to operate under California's medical pot law approved by voters in 1996, Oakland City Hall has developed a slight drug problem. After the city's lone pot club was shut down by the feds, as many as a dozen medical marijuana outlets have sprouted in the Uptown area around it, with handy access to the 19th Street BART station. The original pot club still has a role: It has issued thousands of ID cards to people that it says presented the requisite notes from doctors prescribing pot for medical reasons. "Originally, we approved a single entity to provide medicinal cannabis, and now we have more than 10 businesses," said Council President Ignacio De La Fuente. "I believe that most of them are not selling it for medicinal purposes. '' City officials pledged to regulate the ordinance when they approved it in 1998, but anyone who spends 15 minutes in the cafe district would see that while there is a hefty presence of grim-faced security guards, city oversight is dicey at best. Every day, people come and go from the cafes and clinics like any other retail district, but there is a weird, edgy feel to the place. Teen-agers and young adults linger at the fringes like underage drinkers outside a liquor store. While I was there last week, enjoying a cup of coffee and talking with Fat Cat Cafe owner Mario Paceppi, a carload of teenagers pulled up to the curb and a young woman in tight-fitting clothes popped out and headed to a nearby cafe. She emerged later, engaged in a verbal row with Paceppi, then returned to the shop and caused a minor scene. "I buy weed here all the time!" she exclaimed, in an effort to support her complaint. The cafe owner, who would not give his name, tried to defuse the situation and eventually persuaded her to leave. The merchants' efforts to keep a lid on the situation, and Paceppi's frustration with systemic abuses that threaten the district, have led to the creation of the Uptown Merchants Association to strengthen business ties. Snipped: Complete Article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/10/20/BAGBD2F5DT1.DTL Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)Author: Chip Johnson Published: Monday, October 20, 2003 Copyright: 2003 San Francisco Chronicle - Page A - 15 Contact: letters sfchronicle.comWebsite: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/Related Articles & Web Site:OCBChttp://www.rxcbc.org/Medical Pot Has Council in Dithershttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17424.shtmlCommittee To Study Oaksterdam Idea http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17388.shtmlDe La Fuente Declares War Against Oaksterdam http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17363.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Post Comment