US - Alameda County Supes Postpone Marijuana Ordinance Vote

[Pinch]

OAKLAND, CA -- At an unruly three-hour hearing Tuesday, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors decided to postpone for two weeks a vote on a proposed ordinance to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated parts of the county.

Emotions grew so intense that at one point Supervisor Nate Miley issued a threat to Sparky Rose, executive director of Compassionate Caregivers on East 14th Street in San Leandro after he thought that Rose had interrupted him.

Glaring at Rose and speaking in a loud voice, Miley said, "Don't disrespect me. I can get mean and nasty with anyone. I'm no shrinking violet."

The board chose not to pass an ordinance today despite Alameda County Sheriff Charles Plummer's setting of a June 17 deadline for some sort of ordinance regulating medical marijuana dispensaries to be approved.

Plummer has said if the county misses his deadline, he will cite federal law and order his deputies to shut down the seven dispensaries now doing business in the unincorporated Hayward and San Leandro.

Dispensaries that operate in cities throughout the county, such as Oakland, Berkeley and Hayward, wouldn't be affected by the ordinance as they're regulated by the cities where they're located.

Supervisors are now scheduled to vote on a proposed ordinance on June 7. But they won't be able to approve a required second reading of an ordinance until June 21, which is after Plummer's deadline.

The board is considering limiting the number of medical marijuana dispensaries to only three, a restriction that upsets cannabis supporters such as Chris Hermes, the legal director of Americans for Safe Access, who said, "there's no good argument for a cap" on dispensaries.

There will be "demand issues" and long lines if only three dispensaries are allowed, he said.

Later this year, the Board of Supervisors may vote to only allow one dispensary, with it being housed at county-run Fairmont Hospital in San Leandro.

Alameda County would be the first county in the nation to have a dispensary for medical cannabis at a county-owned hospital if that proposal, which was made by Miley, is approved.

But the idea is on hold for at least six months while county officials study the legal and logistical issues involved.

A major obstacle to having a dispensary at Fairmont is the ongoing conflict between state laws approving medical marijuana and federal laws that prohibit any possession, use or sale of the drug.

Opponents of the marijuana dispensaries said at the hearing today that they don't do a good job of screening valid users who need cannabis for legitimate medical reasons from healthy people who are able to get cards that let them buy marijuana.

They also said that there is crime and unsavory activity such as urinating near some of the dispensaries.

Rochelle Collins, the program director for Project Eden in Hayward, which treats alcohol and drug problems, said many young people hang out near the dispensaries so they can steal marijuana from patients.

Collins said, "They rob people for their marijuana and they know where the dispensaries are."

Collins said youths between the ages of 16 and 18 smoke or sell the marijuana they steal.

But John Davies, a former Marine who now uses marijuana for medicinal purposes, urged the board not to crack down too much on the dispensaries, saying, "To penalize all for the actions of a few is irresponsible."

Angel Raich, an Oakland woman who has a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court that could impact medical marijuana laws across the nation, urged the board members and the many speakers at the hearing to reach a workable compromise that would allow dispensaries to flourish yet keep them off limits for youths.

"I have children, too," Raich said.

Referring to dispensary critics, Raich said, "I reach out to you -- if we can somehow bond together so both you (critics) and we (dispensary supporters) have what we need."

Raich suffers from severe pain and lack of appetite from a variety of conditions, including an inoperable brain tumor, a seizure disorder and wasting syndrome.

The U.S. Justice Department is appealing a decision in which the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled two years ago that Raich and another Northern California woman were entitled to a preliminary injunction protecting them from federal prosecution for using medical marijuana.

Raich told the board, "If we win at the Supreme Court it will change the way society looks at this issue. I feel very confident we'll win at the Supreme Court."




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