cannabisnews.com: Budding Medical Marijuana Clubs Spur Regulations





Budding Medical Marijuana Clubs Spur Regulations
Posted by CN Staff on November 27, 2003 at 09:14:23 PT
By Beth Fouhy, Associated Press Writer
Source: Associated Press 
Oakland, Calif. -- If there's an epicenter of the nation's medical marijuana movement, it may be right here in a gritty six-block area near City Hall, where at least eleven dispensaries sell pot to any California resident with a doctor's note.Some of the people who use pot to ease symptoms of AIDS, cancer and other illnesses leave quickly, tucking small bags of the drug into their purse or pockets. Others stay at the clubs, where pot smoke occasionally wafts into the street, earning the neighborhood the nickname Oaksterdam, after the freewheeling Dutch capital where marijuana use has been decriminalized.
While federal law prohibits the use or sale of marijuana for any reason, nine states including California permit the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Since voters approved a state ballot measure legalizing medical marijuana in 1996, "pot clubs" have popped up in California cities including San Francisco, Hayward, Los Angeles and Santa Cruz. But nowhere is their concentration as high as Oakland, leading some residents of this famously tolerant city of 400,000 to wonder whether the proliferation of clubs has gone too far."I'm a strong supporter of implementing voters' wishes in making sure medical marijuana is available to patients who need it," said Nancy Nadel, an Oakland City Council member whose district includes Oaksterdam. "But because the industry has expanded quite quickly in our city, we need to put some regulations in place."The Oaksterdam neighborhood is gentrifying, and most businesses in the immediate area have welcomed the pot clubs, saying they've helped the local economy.But the City Council is set to vote as early as next week on several proposed restrictions, after complaints from some business owners about problems ranging from the smoke to an escalation of street violence.Armed robbers recently tied up a bouncer outside one club and fled with pot and a significant amount of cash. It was the last straw for a gay and lesbian youth center next door - its director decided to move the center."It's very good to have the clubs, but it brings in a lot of sketchy people who are trying to profit off the legalization," said Brian Bauman, who owns a record store near three of the clubs. "It brings people who hang around the streets and harass patients coming to pick up their medicine."That the council would consider any restrictions on the clubs is a striking departure from the past.In 1998, the city enacted what many advocates consider the most sweeping protection of medical marijuana use in the country, allowing patients to possess 24 times the amount of pot permitted under state law, and deputizing operators of a cannabis collective as "officers of the city," a title that confers some protection from local police enforcement. With the Oaksterdam area's relatively cheap rent and access to public transportation, the policy made Oakland a magnet for distributors.Now the council is considering a requirement that clubs carry business licenses, or zoning rules that would limit the concentration of clubs in an area. The city's far-reaching anti-smoking ordinance, which prohibits smoking in any commercial building unless it has a separate ventilation system, will likely be applied to the clubs as well.Even the club owners have concluded that some limits could be a good thing."The clubs are definitely starting to push the boundaries - it's part of figuring out how we fit in the medical world," said Ken Estes, owner of the 420 Cafe, a pot club that serves about a thousand patients each week.Estes, who has used marijuana to treat pain ever since a motorcycle accident paralyzed him 20 years ago, said he would favor limits on the growth of the clubs."To slow fear down, I would really like to come up with a moratorium to stop growth and then revisit it after a few months," Estes said.But Ed Rosenthal, an Oakland resident and leader in the national medical marijuana movement, said the clubs could remedy many problems on their own, like beefing up security and purchasing "negative ion generators" which would cut the smell of smoke. Any government efforts to regulate the clubs would only hurt sick patients, Rosenthal argued."By having a number of facilities, there is competition and it brings down the price," Rosenthal said. "If there are fewer of these clubs, it means more people will be buying on the street."Earlier this year, Rosenthal himself was at the center of a pitched clash with federal drug laws, when he was convicted on charges of cultivating marijuana, though the city of Oakland had deputized him to do so.Adam Lerch, a lifelong Oakland resident who just opened a restaurant called The Hot Dog Stand down the street from the 420 Cafe, said he is a strong supporter of the clubs. He likes their commitment to sick people, he said, and he thinks they will be good for his business."You smoke pot, you get the munchies - and I'm selling the food!" Lerch said. Complete Title: In Oakland, Budding Medical Marijuana Clubs May Spur RegulationsSource: Associated Press Author: Beth Fouhy, Associated Press WriterPublished: Thursday, November 27, 2003 Copyright: 2003 Associated Press Related Articles & Web Site:Americans For Safe Accesshttp://www.safeaccessnow.org/Council To Look Again at Hempery's Statushttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17870.shtmlCouncil Might Take Lid Off Pot Rulinghttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17850.shtmlHempery Left Out By Council Votehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17845.shtml
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Comment #11 posted by ekim on November 30, 2003 at 16:06:59 PT
Thanks FoM
Monday, December 1st
http://www.kucinich.us/schedule.htm
5:30 to 8 p.m.Cleveland, Ohio
Fundraising Reception at Massimo da Milano's Restaurant at 1400 West 25th St. (West 25th & Detroit). Requested donation: $50. Contact: Dale Miller at 216-252-7827 or national headquarters at 1-866-413-3664 for reservations and tickets. http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread17875.shtml
this question of if you would vote for a _Pres if he had used Cannabis was asked yesterday on C-Span Wash Journal. Many women defended the herb for clothes, meds, and just plane personel freedom. There were the haters that said that they felt that if someone used the plant they could not do the peoples business. Some even said that it is not like haveing a cocktail. Its just to bad so many people have make there money demonizing others for personel gain. this is a email i received about the debate--i have heard that Norml was sending the audio of the debate out email. Have you read "Saying Yes" by Jacob Sullum? Wonderful work with many quotes of Bill Bennett's stupid msg. Bennett says that most drug users are casual users and not abusers but that these people are the biggest threat. Get this:      "the non-addicted user is likely to have a still-intact family, social and work life. He is likely still to enjoy his drug for the pleasure it offers. Since he enjoys drugs without suffering serious harm, he is much more willing and able to proselytize his drug use---by action or example---among his remaining non-user peers, friends, and acquaintances. A non-addict's use, in other words, is highly contagious."      Sullum notes that "this is how Bennett justifies arresting and punishing people whose drug use is not hurting anyone, not even themselves. Their success might encourage others to use drugs, and some of those people might develop problems. By the same logic, moderate drinkers should be held responsible for alcoholism.”
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on November 29, 2003 at 21:10:47 PT
ekim 
News About Dennis KucinichI was looking for news to post and found this article about Dennis Kucinich in Mother Jones and thought you would like to see it too. It's called Little Big Man. Here it is!http://motherjones.com/news/feature/2003/11/ma_562_01.html
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on November 28, 2003 at 16:00:19 PT
Complex Issue
Max Flowers I agree with you. They were trying to trip up Governor Johnson with a Crack question. The Antis seem to think that by making drug laws less harsh we will encourage people to do drugs. The reality is that people ALREADY are doing drugs but the question should be how do we handle the problem we already have but they don't stay on that topic long at all.
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Comment #8 posted by Max Flowers on November 28, 2003 at 15:47:33 PT
FoM
Hi FoM, I can tell you why, because they (meaning media et al) are forever trying to cram discussions and even debates on this very critical subject into tiny time constraints. I didn't even see this one but I would bet you it was an hour or less even thought it was CSPAN who hosted it. There is always seems to be something else that needs to be hurried onto afterward, despite that this problem is arguably one of the nation's greatest and most persistent. We need MONTHS of debate and discussion to iron out this mess that has taken decades to create. Yet the prohibitionists know if the discussion is allowed to become THAT comprehensive, they will lose, and since the major media who would present most of these types of forums is intimately connected with right-wing government entities and agencies, part of the plan is to see to it that it takes decades to throughly discuss a complex issue during which time the drug war marches on. If we could just bite the bullet as a country and have congressional hearings on it stretching out for weeks---or however long it takes---we would likely come out the winners armed as we are with truth, common sense, and facts; but the problem is, the prohibitionists know this and won't play.MF
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on November 28, 2003 at 12:00:26 PT
ekim
When I turned the debate on it was right after I saw Willie Nelson and Neil Young on the Farm Aid concert and I was thinking how good it was and then I turned on the debate. I didn't know about this event either until you and others posted that it was going to be on C-Span. I missed the first ten minutes or so so I very well could have missed something important. I didn't understand what it was about. They would mention marijuana and then be on needle exchange. Was this about changing laws on marijuana or needle exchange type issues? Why do they put them in the same debate. They jump from cannabis to crack in the snap of your fingers and I don't know why.
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Comment #6 posted by ekim on November 28, 2003 at 11:39:10 PT
Gov Johnson says Drug War worst thing on Earth
after watching the debate I now know why it has been hushed up. Bennett and Rangel could not hold a candle to Mayor Schmoke and Gov.Johnson's blinding light. For the life of me I don't understand why MPP and Norml or anyother org did not headsup the net on this event. It was billed as one of the most important debates of the 21st century. Rangel kept objecting to the debate being used for discussing Legalization of Cannabis, I had no idea that he was so against even talking about the gross injustice of Cannabis Prohibition. The DEA said that only 10,000 people were imprisoned for Cannabis, that unleashed a lashing from Gov Johnson as to how over one MILLION could be ARRESTED what happen to those people he asked --to the courts-- to the Leos time--and to the ARRESTED themselves. The DEA just stood there a block of salt. Upon being thoroughly trounced with the facts Bennett's last remark was reduced to namecalling. He said that we have to get those BASTARDS off the streets. As Cannabis was the only substance that was mentioned for Legalization I personally took offence to Mr. Bennett's namecalling. No wonder that Jpee will not debate as the World clearly saw that the Emperor Has no cloths. 
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Comment #5 posted by RasAric on November 27, 2003 at 21:53:16 PT
GCW
Regarding C-SPAN: Ol' Billy Bennett was spewing lies upon lies. Mayor Schmokes did a beautiful job as did Johnson combatting fabrications by ex-DEA and military drug cops.GCW: I cannot count the times that Lynch was looped into the FAUX/CNN/MSNBC soundbytes, day after day. Yet I've seen Johnson...twice.Tell me the major media dictators aren't just as racist as Ol'Grandaddy Hearst was.Even Lynch herself condemned the military for their little PR stunt.Oh, regarding the Canna-club regulations: Sounds like Nancy wants a medical marijuana monopoly. Here comes the blood sucking poli tick. Nancy Nadel wants to narrow the field. Is this so there's only one easy target to make a federal case easier, or is it just an innocent control issue which would put the needs of many into the hands of a few? (And who says the drug war isn't political?)         They're doing everything possible to revert MM patients right back into the streets. We are prevailing regardless. Lies are only lies and cannot outlast the truth.
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on November 27, 2003 at 20:10:21 PT
RasAric
Thanks I have it on now!
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Comment #3 posted by RasAric on November 27, 2003 at 19:38:36 PT
CSPAN NOW GOOD STUFF
Debate on the future of American Drug Policy...
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Comment #2 posted by RasAric on November 27, 2003 at 19:36:53 PT
CSPAN NOW
CSPAN ...GARY JOHNSON(R) NEW MEXICO SPEAKING FOR LEGALIZING CANNABIS >>>NOW(10:38 eastern)
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on November 27, 2003 at 16:46:47 PT
o00o0OOOOOO0
No 15 minutes for you Hey, did you hear about the young female U.S. soldier who was captured in Iraq and held captive for days before her breathtaking rescue? No, not Jessica Lynch. We’re talking about Shoshanna Johnson. Lynch was only held captive for eight days, while Johnson was locked away for 22. Johnson was also shot through both legs, even though her army disability benefit is now only a fraction of Lynch’s. So where is Johnson’s good old U.S.-of-A publicity? Nowhere to be found. No gut-wrenching primetime specials for Johnson. No scandalous pictures of her forwarded to Larry Flynt. A Google search uncovers 4,240 news articles in the past month about Lynch. A similar search uncovers only 10 about Johnson.So what’s the problem with Johnson? Isn’t it obvious? Johnson is black.It’s bad enough when the government turns a poor young woman’s suffering into a grotesque publicity stunt to hide its egregious diplomatic and military blunders in a war that is spiraling out of everyone’s control. It’s worse when the same courtesy isn’t extended to other suffering men and women because of the color of their skin.http://www.boulderweekly.com/incaseyoumissedit.html 
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