Jacob Bell
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HILLSBORO -- The owner of Wake 'n Bake Cannabis Lounge in Aloha pled guilty to drug charges and was sentenced to probation Tuesday in the state's first prosecution of a case against the owner of a medical marijuana dispensary.
Kathleen O'Shea Cambron, 44, was arraigned in Circuit Court on two counts of delivery of marijuana. In a plea agreement, she pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to three years of probation.
Deputy District Attorney Bracken McKey said law enforcement began investigating Cambron after she was quoted in a newspaper article that explored the medical marijuana marketplace in Oregon.
In a January article in Willamette Week, Cambron denied selling the drug, but said her business was a "cannabis exchange," where marijuana was "available for reimbursement."
Under state law, medical marijuana cardholders can either become authorized pot growers or obtain pot from a designated, authorized grower. The grower cannot accept payment for the product; patients can reimburse growers only for the cost of growing the plant.
Cambron's business charged medical marijuana cardholders a $20 membership fee and sold legally grown pot in amounts ranging from one-eighth ounce to one ounce, McKey said. Wake 'n Bake purchased pot from authorized growers, McKey said, but that sale was also illegal.
U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton issued a statement, signed by 33 Oregon district attorneys, in June warning dispensary owners that selling marijuana, even for medical use, was illegal. The statement told owners they faced the risk of prosecution.
Days later, Westside Interagency Narcotics investigators served a search warrant at Cambron's business. McKey said detectives seized 24.4 pounds of marijuana, 68 plants, seven guns, prescriptions drugs and 169 miscellaneous items including the medicated desserts, such as brownies.
A Facebook page for Wake 'n Bake advertised a variety of "eatable medicated" cookies, candies, lemon bars, Chex mix and more.
Cambron's attorney, Celia Howes, said her client opened Wake 'n Bake to help other medical marijuana cardholders access their medication safely.
As a patient who was prescribed medical marijuana for debilitating pain following an ATV accident, Cambron had discovered that obtaining safe, legally grown pot was not easy, Howes said. She saw a marijuana lounge as a solution to that problem.
Cambron consulted two attorneys while crafting her business model and tried to follow the law, Howes said.
After the hearing before Judge Eric Butterfield, Cambron said she started her business to help other patients prescribed medical marijuana.
"I believed I was doing the right thing," she said.
Howes said passing Measure 74 would have provided a legal model for pot dispensaries, meeting a need for patients who have limited ways of obtaining the drug.
"There's a real disparity right now between the number of patients and the number of growers," she said.
As part of her sentence, Cambron was also ordered to undergo an evaluation and complete any recommended drug treatment. She may no longer participate in the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program.
News Hawk- Jacob Ebel 420 MAGAZINE
Source: oregonlive.com
Author: Emily E. Smith
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: Oregon Live LLC.
Website: Kathleen Cambron, owner of Wake 'n Bake Cannabis Lounge, pleads guilty to drug charges in Washington County
Kathleen O'Shea Cambron, 44, was arraigned in Circuit Court on two counts of delivery of marijuana. In a plea agreement, she pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to three years of probation.
Deputy District Attorney Bracken McKey said law enforcement began investigating Cambron after she was quoted in a newspaper article that explored the medical marijuana marketplace in Oregon.
In a January article in Willamette Week, Cambron denied selling the drug, but said her business was a "cannabis exchange," where marijuana was "available for reimbursement."
Under state law, medical marijuana cardholders can either become authorized pot growers or obtain pot from a designated, authorized grower. The grower cannot accept payment for the product; patients can reimburse growers only for the cost of growing the plant.
Cambron's business charged medical marijuana cardholders a $20 membership fee and sold legally grown pot in amounts ranging from one-eighth ounce to one ounce, McKey said. Wake 'n Bake purchased pot from authorized growers, McKey said, but that sale was also illegal.
U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton issued a statement, signed by 33 Oregon district attorneys, in June warning dispensary owners that selling marijuana, even for medical use, was illegal. The statement told owners they faced the risk of prosecution.
Days later, Westside Interagency Narcotics investigators served a search warrant at Cambron's business. McKey said detectives seized 24.4 pounds of marijuana, 68 plants, seven guns, prescriptions drugs and 169 miscellaneous items including the medicated desserts, such as brownies.
A Facebook page for Wake 'n Bake advertised a variety of "eatable medicated" cookies, candies, lemon bars, Chex mix and more.
Cambron's attorney, Celia Howes, said her client opened Wake 'n Bake to help other medical marijuana cardholders access their medication safely.
As a patient who was prescribed medical marijuana for debilitating pain following an ATV accident, Cambron had discovered that obtaining safe, legally grown pot was not easy, Howes said. She saw a marijuana lounge as a solution to that problem.
Cambron consulted two attorneys while crafting her business model and tried to follow the law, Howes said.
After the hearing before Judge Eric Butterfield, Cambron said she started her business to help other patients prescribed medical marijuana.
"I believed I was doing the right thing," she said.
Howes said passing Measure 74 would have provided a legal model for pot dispensaries, meeting a need for patients who have limited ways of obtaining the drug.
"There's a real disparity right now between the number of patients and the number of growers," she said.
As part of her sentence, Cambron was also ordered to undergo an evaluation and complete any recommended drug treatment. She may no longer participate in the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program.
News Hawk- Jacob Ebel 420 MAGAZINE
Source: oregonlive.com
Author: Emily E. Smith
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: Oregon Live LLC.
Website: Kathleen Cambron, owner of Wake 'n Bake Cannabis Lounge, pleads guilty to drug charges in Washington County
