cannabisnews.com: More Rules Needed for Pot Clubs 





More Rules Needed for Pot Clubs 
Posted by CN Staff on April 18, 2005 at 07:13:21 PT
By Chip Johnson
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
California -- Nearly a decade after forward-thinking officials in several Bay Area cities approved laws allowing medical marijuana clinics, they must figure out how to regulate them -- because few people on either side of the debate deny that the clubs are running amok. More than 60 of the dispensaries operate in the region -- from Livermore to Belmont -- as a result of Proposition 215, which California voters approved in 1996 to make marijuana legal for medicinal purposes.
Two examples highlighting the problem have come to light in the past week. In Union City, a pot club opened without proper business permits earlier this month, and when city officials found out, they shut it down. The City Council then voted to place a moratorium on medical marijuana outlets in the East Bay city until the city has looked for appropriate locations and come up with regulations to govern their operations. About the same time, San Francisco pot club co-owner Jeff Hunter was arrested in Emeryville after chasing business partner Jennifer Prasetya into the parking lot of the city's police department. He and his wife were arrested on the spot for making threats and annoying calls to Prasetya. The trouble began when Prasetya announced she was pulling her investment out of the cannabis dispensary. She complained that Hunter, an ex-con with a conviction for cocaine trafficking, was selling pot to people without medical cards and allowing the kind of on-site loitering often seen outside liquor stores. San Francisco, where at least 37 of the clubs operate, has put a moratorium on new pot clubs while it comes up with regulations. Oakland also passed a moratorium after pot clubs quickly sprouted last year along Telegraph Avenue just north of City Hall -- in an area nicknamed "Oaksterdam.'' Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/morerules.htmSource: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)Author: Chip JohnsonPublished:  Monday, April 18, 2005 - Page B - 1 Copyright: 2005 San Francisco Chronicle Contact: letters sfchronicle.comWebsite: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Related Articles & Web Site:Oakland Cannabis Buyers Clubhttp://www.rxcbc.org/Oakland's Noble Pot Experimenthttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20459.shtmlNewsom Declares Moratorium on Marijuana Clubshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20387.shtmlResolve Issues on Medical Pothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20329.shtml 
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on April 20, 2005 at 13:28:54 PT
News in Brief from California's North Coast
April 20, 2005SEBASTOPOL, Calif. (AP) - Sebastopol has adopted a 45-day moratorium on the opening of medical marijuana dispensaries while it creates an ordinance to regulate them.The city doesn't have any existing medical marijuana clubs, but recent problems in Santa Rosa and several other cities with illegal sales, robberies and loitering prompted Tuesday's move, said City Councilwoman Linda Kelley."We don't want the behavior of a few bad players to affect what the voters intended," Kelley said. "The difficulty is that the state laws are not very clear."California voters legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes in 1996 with the passage of Prop. 215.Since then, pot dispensaries have cropped up across the state and many cities have adopted laws to control them.Sepastopol's moratorium follows one adopted by Santa Rosa earlier this month.Santa Rosa officials are working on an ordinance that could include provisions addressing zoning and operating conditions.The three clubs that have opened in Santa Rosa since 2004 have had problems including burglaries and neighborhood complaints.Copyright: 2005 The Associated Presshttp://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/politics/11443679.htm
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Comment #2 posted by Charles Yingling PhD on April 19, 2005 at 09:12:33 PT:
Illness doesn't always ride in a wheelchair
"...the typical pot club customer hardly looks as if he or she is suffering from a health malady"Since when is appearance a criterion for a medical condition? Most cancers are invisible. HIV is invisible. MS is often undetectable to the observer in its early stages. And what about the mood-elevating and perhaps antidepressant properties of cannabis? Most people on Prozac don't look "sick". Apparent "health" of many clients is not a sufficient indication that clubs are "running amok". Regulation and licensure, yes. Stereotyping qualified medical patients, NO!!!
More rules needed for pot clubs
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Comment #1 posted by john wayne on April 18, 2005 at 15:45:46 PT
compared to what?
>> because few people on either side of the debate deny that the clubs are running amok. Really? As bad as the pharmaceutical companies? Releasing deadly drugs? Encouraging prescription of anti-depressants because it's raining out? Fudging test results? Having tests run by advertising agencies? Releasing enantiomers as new drugs, with new patents?  Charging out the wazoo?  OK, maybe that last one, but full legalization of marijuana should take care of that.
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