Alameda supervisors approve pot club law, allowing 3 in county

Posted on Tue, Jun. 07, 2005

Alameda supervisors approve pot club law, allowing 3 in county

By Guy Ashley

CONTRA COSTA TIMES

OAKLAND - Alameda County supervisors today approved a law to license medical marijuana dispensaries, a move that will in effect reduce the number of operations doing business in unincorporated areas of the county from the current seven to three.

The move sets up a kind of competition over the next six months among existing pot clubs who will vie for the three permits to be issued by the county. The law, passed by a 4-0 vote with Supervisor Keith Carson absent, will require operations without a permit to shut down.

It also puts the fate of clubs seeking to stay in business largely in the hands of Alameda County Sheriff Charles Plummer, whose office will field applications and review the applicants' proposed security measures as well as their criminal backgrounds and those of the dispensary staff.

Plummer assured the board that fears of federal intervention to shut down county pot clubs -- concerns heightened by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Monday -- will not be realized as long as the county follows up on commitments to allow only disciplined operations that pose no problems for their neighbors.

"If we do this right, the federal government will never touch us," Plummer said. "They trust us. They trust me."

Monday's ruling, which reaffirmed the federal prohibition of marijuana despite a state law that allows its use as medicine, reared its head in other ways during today's dispensary discussion.

County officials, for instance, said the ruling likely took off the table a proposal to set up a dispensary at county-owned Fairmont Hospital in San Leandro, due to fears that such a move could jeopardize county facilities and employees, and federal funds obtained by the county each year.

"I don't see that happening," Supervisor Scott Haggerty said.

Following the leads of cities such as Berkeley and Oakland, the law passed today will make Alameda County the first county in the state to have its own dispensary licensing ordinance when it takes effect in mid-July.

It also will be the East Bay's only dispensary law to explicitly allow patients to use marijuana at the licensed sites, as long as patients use vaporizers.

These devices heat the marijuana to temperatures just below the point of combustion, releasing vapors containing the drug's active ingredients that are inhaled just like smoke. The vapors are said not to carry harmful toxins carried in marijuana smoke.

The law will set up three districts within the county's jurisdiction -- Ashland/Cherryland, Castro Valley and San Lorenzo -- and will allow only one licensed dispensary per district.

It also will require dispensaries to be at least 1,000 feet from any schools or public parks. But in a last minute twist, the board amended the law to allow that distance to be reduced by as much as 150 feet if a dispensary shows it has taken measures to ensure nearby schools won't be "adversely effected" by its presence.

The concession was a potential reprieve for a dispensary known as A Natural Source, on Foothill Boulevard near Castro Valley. The operation serves about 80 patients a day, but is located 890 feet from an elementary school, according to owner William McDonald.

"That saved us," McDonald said.