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Santa Rosa considers regulating pot clubs
3 sites where marijuana sold were off council's 'radar screen' until
neighbors complained
neighbors complained
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050318/NEWS/503180337/1033/NEWS01
SR considers regulating pot clubs
3 sites where marijuana sold were off council's 'radar screen' until
neighbors complained3 sites where marijuana sold were off council's 'radar screen' until
neighbors complained
Friday, March 18, 2005
By PAUL PAYNE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT (Santa Rosa, CA)
Santa Rosa elected officials said they were surprised to learn that
three medical marijuana clubs are operating within the city - one of
them across the street from City Hall - and pledged quick action on
laws to regulate them.
City Councilman Bob Blanchard said the proliferation came to his
attention recently when neighbors of a Sonoma Avenue club complained
about traffic, public pot smoking and unruly customer behavior.
Blanchard said he paid a visit to Resource Green Caregivers and
Patient Group. To his dismay, marijuana sales were in full swing at
the 10-month-old club, located in a cinder-block building adjacent to
Juilliard Park.
"That was news to me," Blanchard said. "I thought, 'How did this happen?'"
Mayor Jane Bender also expressed shock.
"It's been off the radar screen for a while," Bender said. "I think
three clubs is too many."
They said the council will consider rules to control where and when
clubs may open, how many can operate in the city and the conduct
expected of customers.
Over the next 60 days, the city plans to see how other communities
are dealing with the issue.
On Thursday, officers canvassed the neighborhood near Resource Green,
asking residents for feedback about the club, said Rayburn Killion,
an outspoken critic who lives a few doors away.
California voters approved the medical use of marijuana in 1996. The
initiative has given rise to pot clubs around the state. Federal drug
agents have closed some clubs but many jurisdictions are looking for
ways to regulate them.
Santa Rosa will seek help from Attorney General Bill Lockyer with the
interpretation of legislation that some say has caused a political
quagmire.
While the initiative didn't address pot sales and other laws make
them illegal, juries in Sonoma County have been reluctant to convict
people in cases where medical use was offered as a defense.
District Attorney Stephen Passalacqua has promised not to prosecute
people who have valid physician recommendations, and police are
taking a "hands-off approach."
"We've tried to be very neutral," Santa Rosa Police Lt. Jerry Briggs
said. "We know the political realities."
Some club operators and customers said they would welcome local
regulations as long as they don't add to costs or limit access.
John Sugg, owner of Caregiver Compassion Center on Montgomery Drive,
said an ordinance would help bring medical marijuana into the
mainstream and protect suppliers from the federal government, which
still considers marijuana a controlled substance.
"I'm in favor of regulations as long as they keep them reasonable,"
said Sugg, who opened his center in August. "If we have to pay fees,
it will just be a cost of doing business."
The owners of another Santa Rosa club, North Bay Collective, which
opened last year on West Steele Lane, agreed that city regulations
are appropriate.
A man who identified himself as the co-founder said the club screens
its customers closely and hasn't had any problems with neighbors.
"We do all the common-sense things anyway," said the man, who
identified himself only as Marco. "It's just like any other place of
business."
Resource Green owner Ken Haus didn't comment on potential city
regulations, but has said he increased security at the club to deal
with complaints from neighbors.
A Resource Green customer who requested anonymity said rules were
needed to prevent people from smoking pot outside clubs or re-selling
it to people without prescriptions.
Crowds of young people at Resource Green caused her to curtail
visits, she said.
"This place has gotten out of control," she said. "It's scary some of
the people you see there."
Such concerns have led to municipal ordinances elsewhere, regulating
aspects of marijuana clubs. In Oakland, for instance, city officials
set a limit of three clubs, Briggs said.
Willits is considering a pot club ordinance and Ukiah is looking at
rules to regulate growers, though not clubs.
The state will begin issuing identification cards to medical
marijuana users in Sonoma, Mendocino and Marin counties in the
summer, part of a pilot program in 10 counties designed to protect
certified users from arrest and pot seizures.
Councilman Blanchard said Santa Rosa will enter the debate cautiously.
The city hopes to strike a balance between protecting pot club
neighbors and the rights of people who are prescribed the drug, he
said.
"The problem has been highlighted," Blanchard said. "Now we'll take
care of it."
For more information:
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IMC Network
Published on March 16, 2005
© 2005- The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA)
BYLINE: PAUL PAYNE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
PAGE: A1
It goes by names like Skywalker, Afghan Skunk and
Trainwreck and sells for about $45 for an
eighth-ounce bag.
The pungent marijuana is offered at the Resource
Green Caregivers and Patient Group, a Santa Rosa
club where volunteers say pot is good for what
ails its 2,400 customers, whether it's AIDS,
cancer or just a severe case of the blues.
The Sonoma Avenue club -- one of three in Santa
Rosa -- has built a steady following in the 10
months since it opened, in part through a
reputation for potent weed at reasonable prices.
However, neighbors say the club's popularity is
nothing to celebrate. Cars clog the street
outside its steel-gated doors and people smoke
joints in nearby yards, Rayburn Killion said.
Killion said the place appears to be frequented
most by healthy twenty-something customers, who
often resell pot to people waiting outside, play
loud music or urinate in the bushes.
``It's just a zoo,'' said Janice Spotswood,
Killion's girlfriend, who went to City Hall with
him Tuesday to complain. ``The police told us
they're directed not to do anything about it.''
Others in the Luther Burbank Gardens
neighborhood, including contractor Erick Rudy,
said they were shocked to learn the city had
licensed a business to sell marijuana so close to
Juilliard Park and Burbank Elementary School.
``I don't like my kids walking through a group
of 15 people smoking pot,'' said Rudy, who also
made the trip to City Hall. ``We're trying to
make this a family area.''
City officials said pot clubs are entitled to business licenses.
Resource Green Chief Executive Officer Ken Haus
said he sells only to people with prescriptions
and valid club memberships.
``We have a lot of very sick people who use this place as a refuge,'' he said.
Smoking at the club is prohibited. A sign in the
sales room warns that those who try to sell their
pot to others will be barred from buying again.
The club sells to up to 200 people a day, from
11 a.m. to 7 p.m., a manager said.
Haus said he'd hired guards to help with street
traffic. But he conceded there isn't much he can
do once customers leave. He's canceled
memberships of 10 to 20 people, he said.
He said problems with the club are overblown by
neighbors who don't believe in marijuana's
medicinal benefits.
``During Prohibition, I'm sure there were people
who didn't like the new bar on the corner,'' Haus
said. ``This is no different than a Piggly Wiggly
or anything else.''
Californians legalized marijuana for medical use
in 1996 with the approval of Proposition 215.
Although the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the
authority of the Drug Enforcement Administration
to shut pot clubs, they have sprung up all over
the Bay Area. In addition to Resource Green,
located across Santa Rosa Avenue from City Hall,
there are clubs on West Steele Lane and
Montgomery Drive.
The DEA has shut at least seven Sonoma County
clubs [not true, only one in Santa Rosa -DG], but
Santa Rosa Police Lt. Ed Hemphill said local
police have made no visits to Resource Green for
marijuana-related complaints.
Another case is pending before the Supreme
Court, which has been asked to determine whether
federal agents can arrest people for growing
their own marijuana for medical use.
Federal law prohibits the use of marijuana for any purpose.
Brien Farrell, Santa Rosa's city attorney, said
the city isn't likely to impose sanctions on
Resource Green, but complaints about customers
could lead to policy changes.
He said the City Council will consider a
moratorium on new pot clubs and an ordinance that
regulates the number and location. The council
could act in 60 days, Farrell said.
Because the clubs are relatively new, Farrell
was uncertain how the law would apply.
Public sentiment seems to favor them, he said.
``I don't think Sonoma County jurors are
enforcement minded when it comes to marijuana
possession cases,'' Farrell said.
District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua promised
in his 2002 campaign that he would not pursue
medical pot cases.
Brian Wims, a 44-year-old Sonoma County AIDS
patient and Resource Green customer, said he
hopes that doesn't change any time soon.
As he walked with a cane Tuesday outside
Resource Green, Wims said marijuana was as good
as any medication he has taken for pain and side
effects.
Ready access to marijuana is ``a godsend to me,'' he said.
Another customer, George Cree of Santa Rosa, said most people obey the rules.
Cree, who has a degenerated disk in his back,
said he was buying a $20 bag of marijuana last
week when a neighbor accused him of bumping her
car.
He said he didn't.
``I'm not sure what they're complaining about,'' he said.
But Killion said the problems are real. He's
videotaped people smoking pot in his driveway and
throwing bottles out of moving cars.
Killion, a Santa Rosa lawyer, said Resource
Green violates the law by selling pot.
According to the statute, certified users can
grow pot for their own use or get it from a
primary caregiver, he said.
``I voted for Prop. 215,'' Killion said. ``But I
didn't vote for wholesale drug trafficking in my
neighborhood.''
You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 521-5250 or ppayne [at] pressdemocrat.com.
PHOTO: 3 by KENT PORTER / The Press Democrat
mug: Ken Haus
MAP: by The Press Democrat: Resource Green pot club
1: Several individuals, who declined to give
their names, occupy the waiting area for Resource
Green, a medical marijuana club off Sonoma and
Santa Rosa avenues in Santa Rosa, on Tuesday.
While the club has a steady following, neighbors
say members smoke pot on the street and cause
traffic jams.
2: Rayburn Killion objects to the medical
marijuana club near his Sonoma Avenue home.
3: A medical marijuana patient, left, Tuesday
shows his identification card to an employee of
the Resource Green Caregivers and Patient Group
to gain access to the Santa Rosa club.
--
Death to the medical cannabis club
Thursday, March 17, 2005
By CHRIS SMITH
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT (Santa Rosa CA)
In a more-perfect world, a patient with a serious condition treatable
by marijuana would obtain a prescription -- not a doctor's note or
nod -- and have it filled at Tuttle's or Longs.
As we await that evolutionary state we're stuck in a hazy
intermediate stage that fosters cannabis clubs such as the one on
Sonoma Avenue, a stone's throw from Santa Rosa City Hall, a park and
a grammar school.
At these clubs, the needs of legitimate patients are overshadowed by
the inevitable comings and goings of fakers, rip-offs, dealers and
recreational pot-heads. Clearly the clubs are anachronisms simply
filling a void until prescribed cannabis can be gotten the same way
as antibiotics, Vicodin, Xanax or Zocor.
In the meantime, if you're running a club, do us all a favor and
chase away the riff-raff and concentrate on the ailing people who
truly need your product to get through the day.
And if you're a neighbor of a club who doesn't like what you see and
smell and you hope the city or county will act, be vigilant and keep
good notes.