MORGAN HILL: Medical Pot Advocate Seeks Dispensary

Friday, March 09, 2007

By Tony Burchyns

Morgan Hill - A medical marijuana club wants to open in town, but
city officials need more time to weigh the burning issue.

The Morgan Hill City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to enact a
45-day moratorium on the establishment of medical marijuana
dispensaries, but council members want the issue carefully examined
before allowing, regulating or banning local distribution of the drug
for seriously ill patients.

The issue cropped up after a man who claimed to be from South County
made inquiries last week at City Hall about opening a medical
marijuana dispensary. Because the city has no ordinance on the
matter, administrators asked the council to enact one.

The man, who identified himself as Mike Henderson, 53, wore a shirt
imprinted with cannabis leaves and donned a thick handlebar mustache.
He told the council Santa Clara County is one of the driest regions
in the Bay Area for medical marijuana patients.

"There are a lot of people in Santa Clara County, in Morgan Hill and
San Jose, who have to leave this area and go up north to San
Francisco, Berkeley, Hayward, Alameda County, San Mateo, or head
south over Highway 17 to Santa Cruz to get their medicine," Henderson
said. "All I am trying to do is help these people with their needs."

Henderson said he feels compassion for victims of cancer and AIDS who
are "in dire need" of medical pot and use it on a daily basis
"whether they get it here or not." After the meeting, he said he has
no involvement in existing cannabis clubs in other municipalities.

Under voter-enacted Proposition 215, "The Compassionate Use Act of
1996," some patients and caregivers are allowed to use marijuana with
a doctor's recommendation. But federal regulations clash with state
law. In 2005 the Supreme Court ruled Congress has the power to
prohibit private cultivation and use of medical marijuana under the
U.S. Constitution's commerce clause.

It's unclear if the ruling preempts California law, and litigation on
the politicized issue is expected to continue.

The Morgan Hill Police Department is concerned medical marijuana
dispensaries may threaten public health, safety and welfare,
according to a written report prepared by City Attorney Janet Kern.
The report lists problems from other communities with pot clubs,
including burglaries, illegal drug dealers hanging around the clinics
and patients driving under the influence of marijuana.

Morgan Hill resident Mike Green, speaking before the council, said he
feared a pot club could be a burden on police officers.

"A valid point would be, do we have the law-enforcement capabilities
to handle some of the issues that would come about with something
like that," Green said, adding he wouldn't like to see a medical
marijuana dispensary in town.

No council member said whether he or she was opposed to allowing pot clubs.

Mayor Steve Tate, who joined the council meeting by phone from
Arizona where he's on vacation, said, "there's just more questions
than answers right now."

Councilman Larry Carr said the number of people who need medical
marijuana in South County should be researched before the city passes
an ordinance.

There are no medical pot clubs in Santa Clara County, but there are
hundreds around the state and dozens in the Bay Area, according to
California National Organization for the Reform Marijuana Laws, a
non-profit group dedicated to reforming cannabis laws.

Longtime Santa Cruz City Councilman Mike Rotkin said the city has had
no problems or complaints since opening its two dispensaries within
the last year and a half.

Rotkin, a UC Santa Cruz community studies lecturer who first joined
the council in 1979, noted Santa Cruz's ordinance regulating pot
clubs requires the police department to regularly inspect the
facilities.

Tony Burchyns

Tony Burchyns is a staff writer for South Valley Newspapers. He can
be reached at (408) 779-4106 or at
<mailto:tburchyns [at] svnewspapers.com>tburchyns [at] svnewspapers.com.

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