cannabisnews.com: Council Looks To Trim Number of Pot Clubs





Council Looks To Trim Number of Pot Clubs
Posted by CN Staff on January 25, 2004 at 08:38:03 PT
By Laura Counts, Staff Writer
Source: Oakland Tribune 
Oakland -- The City Council will consider a plan next month to prune back the flourishing medical cannabis trade to a maximum of four local clubs. The dozen or so pot clubs already operating in Oakland would have to apply for city permits to remain open, and those that don't make the city's cut would be shut down as of June 1. The wide-ranging regulations put together by Council President Ignacio De La Fuente (San Antonio-Fruitvale) and Councilmember Jean Quan (Montclair-Laurel) would prohibit smoking at the clubs and require dispensaries to operate on a not-for-profit basis.
With the number of patients growing and neighboring cities putting limits on the number of pot clubs, the six original dispensaries in Oakland have doubled and the city has become the center of the medical cannabis movement. Most of the clubs are clustered around the original Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative (OCBC) at the intersection of Broadway and Telegraph avenues, but some have spread to other parts of the city. Some operate as cafes or small membership-only collectives, while others are more like holistic health clinics. Jeff Jones, founder of the Oakland cooperative -- which screens patients and issues identification cards but no longer dispenses medical cannabis -- welcomed the new regulations. The rules are intended to allow the dispensaries, growers and users to operate openly, but said he disagrees with many details of the proposal -- especially the four-club limit. "I don't see this as Draconian, I just hope we can find a way to make it friendlier to our community," Jones said. "We view it as a compromise the community has to make with the community to keep it safe and regulated." Four dispensaries will under-serve the community, especially as the number of medical cannabis patients continues to grow as more doctors feel comfortable with prescribing the drug and more patients ask for it, Jones said. The OCBC has registered more than 23,000 people and has about 2,600 members in Oakland, Jones said. Still more patients patronize other clubs without getting an Oakland cannabis card. Jones said he planned to propose a limit of nine to 12 clubs, although he would accept a compromise of six to eight outlets. Berkeley permits four clubs and Hayward has three, even though both cities have only a fraction of Oakland's population, Jones said. Kenny Mostern, spokesman for the Uptown Merchants Association, a coalition of four cannabis-related businesses and seven non-cannabis businesses, agreed four is not enough. "The limit will lead to long lines for patients and more problems on the streets, since patients will spill outside," Mostern said. "The people trying to regulate see the dispensaries as a problem, instead of businesses that are operating legally in the state of California and helping to develop downtown." Mostern also said his group opposes the ban on smoking at the clubs. "That is absolutely horrible for patients, and it will mean people taking their medication in the streets or in their cars," Mostern said. An assessment based on information provided by the clubs estimated about 3,000 Oakland residents patronize medical cannabis clubs. A well-run club should be able to serve 500 to 1,500 patients and caregivers, making the four-club limit adequate, De La Fuente said. Some clubs are operating too loosely and are allowing marijuana to be resold on the street, De La Fuente said. If the ordinance is adopted, the City Council will review the four-club limit in one year to determine whether more are needed. Groups with more than three members will be required to obtain a city permit, which will range in cost from $5,000 to $20,000, depending on the number of patients and caregivers. The revised ordinance would order the Oakland Police Department to make the permitted clubs a low priority, while prohibiting them from locating within 1,000 feet of a public or private school, library, youth center, residential zone, another dispensary, park or recreation facility. Right now there is a youth center near Oakland's cluster of medical marijuana clubs downtown, the Sexual Minority Alliance of Alameda County. It's uncertain whether its location would force medical marijuana clubs from Broadway and Telegraph. Last fall, De La Fuente advocated shutting down all the dispensaries but one. However, the proposal was rejected by the council, which has been crafting new regulations behind closed doors for the past three months. California voters adopted Proposition 215, legalizing medical marijuana, in 1996. Federal issues surrounding the law are still murky; an Oakland woman just won a crucial legal victory allowing her to use pot and have a caregiver grow it for her. Richard Meyer, a Drug Enforcement Administration representative for the Bay Area, said the clubs could be shut at any time because federal policy deems marijuana an illegal drug. Meanwhile, a new state law, which has yet to be funded, would set up a voluntary registry for marijuana patients and set further guidelines for its distribution. Note: Disputed plan would allow maximum of four dispensaries in Oakland.Staff Writer Heather MacDonald contributed to this report. Source: Oakland Tribune (CA)Author: Laura Counts, Staff WriterPublished: Sunday, January 25, 2004 Copyright: 2004 MediaNews Group, Inc. Contact: triblet angnewspapers.com Website: http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:OCBChttp://www.rxcbc.org/Americans For Safe Accesshttp://www.safeaccessnow.org/Oakland Considers Limits on Cannabis Shopshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18166.shtmlCannabis Clubs Put Council in Tight Spothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17694.shtmlCompeting Cannabis Clubs http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17686.shtml
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