report: Alameda County Debates Cannabis Dispensaries

Aundre Speciale and I attended the Alameda Co. Board of Supervisors
meeting at the San Lorenzo Home Association center.

The room was filled with over 100 people, more than half were there
for the medical marijuana dispensary topic.

Nate Miley (district 4) and Alice Lai-Bitker (district 3) are the
supervisors representing the neighbors from the area. Nate Miley
firmly accepted responsibility for the current dispensary/co-op
explosion in the regions of Cherry Land and Ashland. He explained to
the community that his office has been involved in creating county
guidelines for over a year, that this process was halted by the
passage of SB420, and Miley's office has resumed creating a county
protocol for dispensaries in collaboration with the county board of
health and the county Sheriff's office.

The Sheriff said that if the new protocol created by the coalition of
county officials is not satisfactory, then he will just enforce
federal law.

All of the concerned neighbors who were expressing their complaints
acknowledged that cannabis is medicine and that patients have the
right to safe access. They seemed primarily concerned that seven
clubs have sprung up in a small region of the county. They feel that
there are too many dispensaries/co-ops and not enough other services
such as grocery stores. One of the opponents stated: "We are
reasonable people. We're not asking for zero clubs, we just don't
want seven."

Nate Miley said that the county provisions will address the issue of
concentration throughout the entire unincorporated area of the
county. He said that the recent move in Oakland to shut down all but
three of it's dispensaries has pushed businesses into other parts of
the county and that the new provisions will address this and other
problems.

Despite the home owner's clear contempt for Miley's advocacy on
behalf of medical dispensaries- Miley pressed forward with his
convictions and was a strong voice for patients' and caregivers'
rights.

A 45 day moratorium as of 10/26/04 will prevent new dispensaries from
opening in Alameda until the new county guidelines can be
implemented. Although they do have the option to extend the
moratorium if the language is not complete by the end of the
deadline, the Alameda County Counsel (attorney) was confident that
the language for the ordinance will be completed within the 45 day
limit.

None of the currently operating clubs in the unincorporated parts of
the county will be grandfathered into this program. All will have to
apply for county permits once the guidelines are in place. The
Sheriff will have a say in who the permits go to, it was not clear
who else, if anybody, will take part in that decision process, but
that will be defined by the ordinance.

Alameda County is applying to be one of the four pilot counties to
experiment with the state-wide card ID program for CA patients that
was recently appropriated funds by Gov. Schwarzenegger and will be
implemented statewide by the end of 2005.

We left the meeting feeling optemistic that the county will come up
with a regulation that will have clear enforce-able guidelines that
will please the Sheriff and define his department's rights and
responsibilities while maintaining the compassionate standards that
Alameda Co. residents stand for.

At worst, We'll see some sort of number limit in Alameda (i.e. no
more than 5 dispensaries in the entire unincorporated area of the
county) and the application process will be complicated and/or have
impossible criteria. At best, The ordinance will not limit the
number of dispensaries, but will set a geographical limit as to how
close each of the dispensaries can be to each other and the
application criteria will be based on sensible health and business
standards.

There is still the ultimate-worst possibility that the Sheriff will
be unwilling to negotiate and choose to enforce federal law, but I
expect our council members to present a well-researched and rational
proposal that they will be willing to negotiate with the Sheriff on.

The key here is for Alameda Co. residents to continue showing up for
public hearings on this matter to ensure that their input and voices
are a part of the policy-making process. We'll send out updates
whenever we get info.

It was great to see the people who we thought were our 'opponents'
affirming patients' right to safe access! Progress is being made!
Stay involved!

sincerely,
Stacey

--
Stacey Swimme
Field Manager
Americans for Safe Access
1700 Shattuck Ave. #317
Berkeley, CA 94709
510-486-8083
http://www.safeaccessnow.org

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