City hall

Bud business: Cannabis clubs explained

2009-08-14T05:23:35Z

As part of the fact-finding process of the cannabis dispensary moratorium, the Sacramento city government is taking a look at how, exactly, medical pot stores operate. Without many precedents to refer to, dispensaries don't have solidly established business practices. All dispensaries are somewhat similar, but none are alike.

Dispensaries all have the same basic foundation. By state law, pot shops must be collectives or cooperatives of medicinal cannabis patients.

After ill Californians get cannabis recommendations, they have the ability to medicate and cultivate as they see fit. Last year, California Attorney General Jerry Brown published some guidelines on how many plants (six) and how much prepared cannabis (8 oz) independent patients should grow or possess at one point in time, but such guidelines aren't law. Instead, these guidelines are sort of a threshold of acceptability to avoid state legal action. Brown's recommendations are more binding of cooperatives, which he requires to operate within the law.

"California law isn't really specific on any of this stuff," a spokesman from Capitol Wellness Collective said, who requested SacPress to not use his name. "It's still evolving."

If multiple patients pool their resources, they can quickly come into possession of far more cannabis than the guidelines suggest or that they're even capable of using. Remember, this plant grows like a weed. A single indoor plant can grow up to six feet tall, producing up to 10 ounces - so even within guidelines, stockpiles can overflow.

If they feel like making a practice out of it, state law allows them to open a dispensary. Dispensaries often start with several growing patients and occasionally another entrepreneur who may not grow or have a doctor's recommendation for THC medicine.

Aspiring club owners must then make the difficult decision of where to set up shop. Dispensaries have to take on a number of concerns when shopping for property, said American Association for Medical Cannabis State Director Ryan Landers. "They need to be a good distance from other dispensaries to avoid being redundant, and they have to be away from parks or kid-friendly businesses."

AAMC is a nationwide activist group that works with lawmakers and law enforcement to make medical cannabis safer and more available.

Friendly landlords are also a must, as opening a pot shop can be a touchy matter.

"Nobody wants to lose their property for renting to a dispensary, so they usually think twice," Landers said. "It's never happened in Sacramento, though."

Accessibility is another major component of a shop's location. Many cannabis patients have limited mobility, and private transport may be a luxury they physically or financially can't afford. Local dispensaries choose to open near bus or light rail lines. Clubs usually avoid busy metro areas: None are presently open in the heart of the downtown grid. Capitol Alternatives, a club on 16th Street, was raided by DEA agents and local police in April 2006, though no charges were made, according to news reports. The club reopened the next day at another location.

Then there's the question of how the medicine gets to the dispensary in the first place. As mentioned before, most dispensaries are run by cultivating patients, but once demand goes up, for the sake of stable prices, so must supply. Patients outside the dispensary are invited to donate their excess medicine if they have an abundance, which is common. Contributions are given free of charge and serve to keep prices down and to increase the variety of strains available. According to local club owners, there is a wide network of patients making regular donations.

Dispensaries are always nonprofit businesses, as required by state law. This means that all of their profits need to be redistributed back to the community. Employee salaries are included in that interpretation of 'community.' According to a spokesman for Hugs Alternative care, about 25 percent of profits go back to salaries. With the remainder, clubs also give back in other ways.

Every club gives a charitable amount back to patients who donate their excess medicine, usually in the range of $100 an ounce, according to local club owners. Doing some quick math, at $50-60 per eighth-ounce, this adds up to a $300 or more profit margin on each ounce sold.

Some clubs also use their excess earnings for other health services, like massage therapy or group counseling, and a few even offer hobby classes and other services.

"At Capitol Wellness Collective, we have a lot of basic outreach programs," CWC's spokesperson said. "We have a full-time spiritual counselor, condition-specific support groups, a masseuse, cooking classes and peer counseling, all of which are provided free of charge."

Some local clubs also make donations to charities to redistribute their income. Capitol Wellness donates to Loaves and Fishes, the local Shriner chapter and "other people that are just doing great work," according to its spokesperson.

Lastly, dispensaries point out that they usually offer 'compassion plans,' that reduce or eliminate the cost of medicine for disadvantaged patients. Veterans can often get a discount, as can the disabled and patients with MediCal and Medicare.

"Clubs should never present an undue hardship to the people that need medicine most," Landers said. "Medical cannabis saves lives."

Dispensaries are almost always incorporated. They charge sales tax for their wares and pay federal and state taxes, although they aren't federally listed to avoid DEA entanglements. They usually employ between five to 10 full-time employees and pay a "comfortable" salary, according to club owners and employees.

"As profits go up, so do salaries. If we're in a good time, we'll meet up and discuss pay," Clyde Baker from Hugs Alternative Care said.

Patients can volunteer their time to help out at some local dispensaries, and some receive free medicine in return for their time. Alexander Skibo volunteers at Northstar Healing Collective and positively loves doing it.

"This is the most convenient arrangement I've ever had with any medicine," he said. "I haven't been able to drive a car since my injury, so walking in to volunteer is just great. I'm definitely a proponent."

Specifics on the actual cannabis commerce that takes place at dispensaries are tough to get. Questions on profits, salaries and even day-to-day business are usually met with "that's a private matter." Some general facts can be learned, but accounting figures will be checked out by the city government, if even then. Clubs still have two more weeks to register with the city and prove they were open before the moratorium's June 16 requirement. After that point, if clubs fail to register, they'll get hit with a misdemeanor every day they stay open.

"That'll add up really quickly," Landers said. "Most clubs have already registered, but we're still expecting more."

For more information on the legality and aesthetics of local medical cannabis, or the moratorium, refer to these previous SacPress articles.

The science of THC medicine

2009-08-20T04:49:07Z

Regardless of the smoldering controversy cannabis stirs up in Sacramento City Hall, the state Capitol and Washington D.C., the global scientific community has examined the drug with increasing interest recently. Local patients and doctors can't say enough about the groundbreaking potential of THC as a pharmaceutical.

Cannabis is handled at Oaksterdam University in Oakland.

There's a fairly large medical cannabis community in Sacramento, of patients, caregivers and researchers. Some dispensaries work directly with patients and doctors to bridge the gap between medical knowledge and social support.

Sacramento resident Thomas Coy has worked with the Capitol Wellness dispensary since it opened in 2004. He's a patient, an activist and a 28-year survivor of HIV/AIDS.

"Cannabis has helped me tremendously," he said. "I've been on medical programs and trials since 1983."

Cannabis allows Coy to cope with and overcome many symptoms of the virus. Smoking four joints a day helps prevent seizure, relieve nausea, fight pneumonia and stimulate his appetite.

"If it wasn't for medical marijuana, I'd be dead," Coy said. "Doctors say I'm a living miracle."

Despite a condition that many would find disabling, Coy keeps an active lifestyle and leads Cap Wellness support groups. Last week, Coy's HIV/AIDS group took a camping and whitewater rafting trip.

Coy counsels patients both socially and legally, and has worked for many years with the patients' rights advocacy group Americans for Safe Access. He has testified numerous times on behalf of federally-raided patients and clubs.

"I get out there and I raise my voice," he said. "I say 'this is medicine, hands off it.'"

Patients like Coy are a common sight at dispensaries and rallies, fighting for their rights to medicate for AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis, fibermyalgia, glaucoma... the list goes on.

Medical studies on cannabis took a long time to evolve, and Dr. Frank Lucido was there to watch.

Dr. Lucido speaks on behalf of a patient at a 2004 press conference.

Frank Lucido has been a general family practice doctor for 30 years. Since cannabis was legalized for medical use in 1996, he has been an outspoken and highly regarded supporter of herbal medicine. He spoke with The Sacramento Press to offer medical perspective on the drug.

"I started getting into it right away after it was legal," he said. "Every doctor knows they have about 20 slam-dunk patients that could benefit greatly from medical cannabis."

While Lucido was getting his M.D. in the '70s, doctors weren't learning about cannabis, aside from its reportedly high potential for abuse.

"The dangers of cannabis we knew were overblown," he said. "All of us saw people using cannabis in med school and still performing extremely well."

Once California's medical cannabis legalization measure, Proposition 215, got on the ballot, Lucido's interest was piqued. He had heard rumors that cannabis had some vague medical benefits and began checking out studies on what exactly cannabis did.

"There's still a lot we don't know, but we do know there are at least 70 reactive cannabinoids as well as many CBDs," he said.

A cannabis flower under an electron microscope.

Cannabinoids are essentially the 'stuff' in cannabis that gets people high. They're a family of chemicals that mimic a substance that the human brain naturally produces, a cannabinoid known as anandamide. There are receptors for anandamide throughout the body and brain. There's a wide variety of cannabinoids in cannabis, but most are concentrated into delta-9 tetrahydracannabinol, known colloqually as THC. More background on THC can be found at 3dchem.com.

Generally speaking, the more THC, the more potent the cannabis, at least for its relaxing properties. THC can be used as a sleep aid, pain suppressant, anti-inflammatory, anti-convulsant, appetite stimulant, muscle relaxant and - perhaps most commonly known - as an anti-depressant.

CBD is an acronym for cannabidiol, a family of substances in cannabis that are a bit of unexplored territory. In ongoing research, CBDs have been found to have anti-viral and even anti-tumor properties. Yes, this means that cannabis may help to prevent cancer, according to recent UCLA studies.

"It was announced about two or three years ago that cannabis didn't increase the risk of cancer, and it was briefly stated that certain doses might even be protective," Lucido said. Several other studies that have successfully used cannabis to shrink tumors in mice have been ignored despite their results, according to Lucido.

It's popular wisdom that it is impossible to overdose on cannabis, as the estimated lethal dosage adds up to smoking 1,500 pounds in 15 minutes. Yet, as it turns out, even if you took in a lethal dose (with Janis Joplin's lungs and Willie Nelson's stash), you'd still survive. Interestingly, there aren't cannabinoid receptors in the medulla oblongata, the part of your brain that controls breathing and other vital functions.

"That means that someone who smokes a fatal dose may be very sleepy, but they wouldn't die," Lucido said.

Although impossible to die from any dose of cannabis, smoking pot does carry other side effects. There's one major one — the side effect that isn't a side effect: Getting high. The psychoactive effect of cannabis can be either a euphoria (pleasant) or a dysphoria (unpleasant); some people enjoy it, others don't. If they turn to cannabis for relief from serious illness, however, dysphoric patients can get over their dislike and even become immune to the 'stoned' effect, something many sources have noted.

Cannabis can also be a mild lung irritant, but that can be avoided by eating a pot brownie or using a vaporizer.

The THC-laden trichromes of an individual leaf.

Given the wide potential of cannabis' medical usage, it is still fairly uncommon for doctors to make regular recommendations for patients to use the drug.

"Most doctors are hesitant to recommend cannabis because of two reasons," Lucido said. "Either they don't know about its medical properties or they're afraid of the medical board and law enforcement. I keep myself to a very high standard and I was still investigated by the medical board."

Lucido, a private practice doctor, said that he screens his patients by asking for corroborating evidence of their condition. He quizzes any applicants under the age of 21 with two questions. First: "Are you living at home?" Second: "Are you hiding it from your parents?" He said this sifts out about 90 percent of young applicants.

While cannabis can have remarkable effects on the lives of people living with terminal disease, those cases are fairly rare. More commonly, patients seek treatment for mental tension and physical pain. A survey of Lucido's 1,045 patients in 2008 found that 61% medicated for chronic pain, 7% for anxiety, 6% for migraines, 4.4% for gastrointestinal disorders (indigestion, nausea, anorexia), and 3.4% for depression. Many other disorders take up the last 18%.

New studies consistently point out new uses for cannabis medication, as the University of California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR) continues to conduct research throughout the state on THC's effects on everything from spinal cord injury to MS muscle disorders. Interestingly, Lucido said he recently heard of another application for the sensual herb: increasing the female libido. While licentious cannabis-smoking females were key plot devices back in the 'Reefer Madness' days, new findings have shown that cannabis' come-hither effects can be used to stimulate a dormant libido.

Scientific exploration of cannabis' medical properties has yielded some promising fruit. Now, with increased local and national attention, research seems likely to keep on growing.

Photos courtesy of AngelJustice.org and David Scharf and Peter Dasil of Corbis

Strong mayor progresses, questions remain

2009-07-09T04:49:29Z

Two weeks after taking office in December, Mayor Kevin Johnson launched a ballot reform initiative to expand the executive powers of the Sacramento mayor, suggesting that enhanced executive powers would make city government more efficient and accountable. It would also make him one of the more powerful executives in any California city.

Throughout its short, tumultuous life, the so-called "strong mayor initiative" has been praised or criticized by citizen groups as either a democratizing modern reform or a gateway to tyrannical government.

Last Friday, the primary group promoting the change, Sacramentans for Accountable Government, presented City Hall with a petition to put the initiative onto the 2010 ballot; by the group's figures, it was signed by more than 50,000 city residents. Others have come out in strong opposition, including Stop the Power Grab, a citizen group started this January. The Sacramento City Council formed an 11-member Charter Review Committee in February to consider the issue, and it has been holding hearings for the last few months.

Sacramento's current council-manager system has been in place since the city charter was drafted in 1920. Sacramento’s position of mayor is essentially just a modestly embellished city council seat. As laid out by the charter, the chief executive officer of Sacramento is actually the city manager, which is an unelected position.

This means that Ray Kerridge, the present city manager, wields most of the powers you would expect of an executive arm of government, including enforcing laws, appointing department directors and proposing the budget.

Under the council-manager system, the city manager is appointed by the city council and serves "at their pleasure," with no term limit until he or she retires or a majority of councilmembers decides to fire him.

In the strong mayor plan, the council-manager system would be replaced by a mayor-council system. That plan installs the mayor as executive of city government, removes him from the city council and gives him a wide degree of political independence. If approved, this measure would give the mayor all the executive powers of the city manager and more.

The mayor could hire and fire department directors, including the city manager, treasurer and attorney. He could also run without term limits and could propose a budget that could only be blocked with council override. The strong mayor initiative also grants the mayor a powerful tool that the city manager doesn't have: veto power over any city council ordinance.

City Attorney Eileen Teichert voiced concern over the initiative's provisions in an analysis presented to the April 20 hearing of the Charter Review Committee.

"Essentially, this proposed strong mayor initiative creates an imbalance of powers," she wrote. "It lacks important checks and balances and blurs the lines of authority and accountability contained in other strong mayor cities' charters."

Over-expanded budget control was a primary concern Teichert listed, as was the strong mayor's comprehensive appointment power that would eliminate intra-governmental checks.

Steven Maviglio, Johnson's volunteer spokesman and a key figure in Sacramentans for Accountable Government, conceded that the plan is a stiff prescription that would give the mayor many powers.

"It depends in how you look at it," he said. "But it's definitely one of the strongest ones out there."

Maviglio also voiced strong disapproval of the charter review committee and dismissed them as being "politically appointed." Each of the 11 members was appointed by a city councilmember, including the mayor, with two other committee members nominated by a subcommittee. "They were put in place by councilmembers who had their views already set in stone," Maviglio said.

Committee Chairman Bill Edgar replied to this claim, "It's simply not true.... Everybody on the committee has an open mind on the matter and everyone is invited to testify." Ultimately, the charter review committee can review proposed changes and make recommendations, but cannot and will not make the definitive choice. That's the job of Sacramento voters.

Strong mayor systems are common to major California cities including San Francisco and Los Angeles. Fresno introduced the system in 1997, while San Diego started its strong mayor system in 2004.

Fresno Bee columnist Jim Bowen wrote this January that the strong mayor system was "one of the smartest things that Fresno voters did," and the initiative's wide passage suggests that Fresnans agreed. Strong mayorship, Bowen writes, "put an end to the confusion of who would control Fresno" and allowed the economic development expertise of Mayor Ashley Swearengin to reign with less resistance.

However, the Sacramento plan would allow for greater mayoral impunity than any of these other cities and should be taken with corresponding gravity.

For many, the question remains: What is Johnson restrained from accomplishing under the current council-manager system? The central benefit of a strong mayor, according to the initiative's author, Tom Hiltachk, is increased accountability.

"A more representative form of city government will lead to a more effective and accountable government," he wrote in the initiative. "If city services are inadequate, citizens should be able to hold their elected representative responsible for such failures.

This still leaves unanswered what issues a stronger [strong?] mayor would be able to address, or for that matter, in what ways the current system is ineffective. Opponents to the measure make almost precisely the same argument for the reverse outcome: A stronger mayor, to skeptics, would be less accountable due to greater political license.

Maviglio has much to say on the strong mayor initiative, but not a lot on what Johnson would actually plan to do with that unleashed power. Under a strong mayor system, Johnson "would be able to get things done," Maviglio said, but those precise "things" weren't quite clear. "He'd put more cops on the street, work for economic development, and support our schools," he said.

Those changes are political bread and butter. A councilmember would risk their public image by opposing any of those reforms. Again, what would a strong mayor do?

The clearest answer may be tighter control over Sacramento's budget, but many argue that enough can be done in the present budget system.

"I have a vision for what I think the city can become," Johnson told The Sacramento Bee last week. "But if I can't allocate some resources toward making that vision happen, then it never will."

Whether a strong mayor in Sacramento is a means to accomplish otherwise impossible goals or merely an end in itself is a contentious point in the ongoing debate. City Hall is presently counting petition signatures and the charter review committee met July 2 to continue discussion in a forum open to the public. According to Edgar, no decisions will be reached until August.

Medicinal cannabis clubs face scrutiny

2009-07-15T05:28:39Z

Although the medicinal use of cannabis has been legal in California since 1996, in Sacramento there's a growing concern over the uncertainty that surrounds local cannabis clubs — nonprofit clinics that sell cannabis in various forms to qualifying patients.

On Tuesday night, the Sacramento City Council voted unanimously to adopt a 45-day moratorium on the development of medical cannabis dispensaries in the city. No new dispensaries can be created and existing dispensaries will be unable to physically expand their operation, though they can still take on new clients.

The moratorium is intended to investigate the current status and number of medical cannabis clubs in the city to better inform future regulations, because even city officials acknowledge that they don't know.

Estimates vary on how many clubs operate within the city. Assistant City Manager Gus Vina estimated between 20 and 24, whereas at least 34 can be found online at sites such as Sacramento Cannabis Clubs.

These dispensaries bear various titles that may cause confusion over their actual services and legal standing. Some are wellness collectives, others are healing centers, some offer holistic or alternative medicines and others are labeled as delivery companies. Labeling in this way, many clubs avoid registering themselves as cannabis dispensaries with the city government and exist completely under the legal radar. The city council is uncertain as to how many exist within city limits and how many of those are working within legal statutes.

"That's one of the biggest problems," said Sacramento Special Projects Manager Michelle Heppner. "It's hard to say whether the city should regulate, prohibit or leave the dispensaries alone if we may have a zillion of them out there."

The city council heard testimony from a long list of interested parties before the vote, including medicinal cannabis activists, dispensary owners and patients benefiting from prescriptions. Among the speakers was Rich Guitron, CEO and general manager of R&R Coffee Wellness Collective, who vocally defended medicinal usage of THC.

"It's not just pot anymore," Guitron said. "There are thousands of strains that treat different ailments. It's a cutting-edge industry." He also highlighted discrepancies between drug legality and safety. "Over-the-counter medications kill 20,000 people a year and medical marijuana has never done that."

Currently, medical cannabis dispensaries are in legal limbo, caught between state and federal law.

Medical cannabis has been legal in California since 1996's Compassionate Use Act and further defined by the 2003 Medical Marijuana Act (a.k.a. Senate Bill 420), which allows for non-profit provision of THC herbal medicines. Sufferers of THC-treatable ailments, ranging from AIDS and cancer to depression and anxiety, are protected from arrest for the possession and cultivation of cannabis so long as they possess a doctor's recommendation or a medicinal cannabis ID card.

Yet, federal law still lists cannabis as a Schedule 1 controlled substance. This means that although dispensaries are protected in state law, federal drug enforcers could raid stores, seize assets and prosecute distributors at any time.

In fulfilling an Obama campaign promise, Attorney General Eric Holder said that the Justice Department has ceased federal raids on state-legalized dispensaries. However, Drug Enforcement Administration agents, although overseen by the DoJ, have raided and dismantled at least six California cannabis clinics this year, according to media reports.

Cannabis dispensaries are also illegal according to Sacramento city code, which complicates proceedings. During the moratorium, all cannabis dispensaries are asked to register themselves with city government. Once the dispensaries are registered, city government will not pursue enforcement and will allow them to continue operation, provided they remain within legal limitations on permits, sale volumes and clientele.

West Sacramento passed a similar moratorium on July 8 and other city governments have made similar moves to reexamine the weed community that has sprung up under their feet.

Local artist Rena Davonne provided the last piece of testimony, running to the City Hall after seeing the discussion on TV. "Marijuana saved my sister's life," she said, and detailed how her sister recovered from life-threatening illness with the help of THC. Cannabis didn't work for Rena's chronic pains, but seeing the relief the plant brought her sister made a believer out of her. "I would like to see medicinal marijuana expand, or grow, if you will."

Photos by Cheya Cary / courtesy James Leynse of Corbis

Dispensary moratorium extended

2009-08-26T03:45:23Z

During Tuesday night's hearing, the Sacramento City Council voted unanimously to extend the citywide moratorium on medical cannabis dispensary openings and expansion for ten months and fifteen days, totaling a year of halted development.

The city is now 42 days into the moratorium's original 45. In that time, city government has been collecting information on cannabis clubs and invited existing dispensaries to register themselves within 30 days, a time window that closed on August 16. The registration has ceased; the research has not.

"We felt that 45 days was just too short," said City Special Projects Manager Michelle Heppner, who helped conduct the fact-finding mission. "Things moved very slowly. We would call the city, leave a message, get a call back in two days from the wrong person, it was hectic."

As outlined in the original moratorium, new cannabis clubs will be prevented from opening and existing clubs will be unable to physically expand their operations. There is no limitation on the number of patients a dispensary serves, however.

Cannabis club co-owner Lanette Davies spoke on behalf of the dispensary community and voiced her support for setting standards on practices.

American Association for Medical Cannabis state director and longtime medical cannabis activist Ryan Landers also spoke briefly, reminding the City Council of the seriousness of medical marijuana. "It saves people's lives, helps them keep medicine down, makes people eat. Cannabis is vital."

About 40 cannabis dispensaries registered with the city, a number that almost doubled the city's previous estimates. Those that did not register in the 30 day period will not be excluded from considerations, Heppner said. Registration consisted of providing basic information that proved the dispensary in question was open before June 15, but did not probe any further into the structure and practices of the businesses.

"We don't really know what [the clubs] do," Heppner said, "but that will be coming later when we consider regulations. That'll be the interesting part."

In the next few weeks and months, the research task force will communicate with dispensaries, compare regulatory options with other California cities and hold public meetings to invite comment. Current plans include an as-yet unscheduled meeting in late September and a law enforcement tour of Oakland dispensaries.

The moratorium will expire on July 13, 2010 unless it is further extended. Under city code, emergency ordinances can last up to two years.

When pot and paper don't mix

2009-08-05T17:08:22Z

Cloned cannabis plants at Canna Care

Munching on a herbal brownie at El Camino Wellness Center, AAMC state director Ryan Landers explained how tricky and self-conflicting medicinal cannabis laws are.

"In Sacramento County, publicly smoking medicinal cannabis is considered ten 10 times worse than just smoking weed," he said.

Landers has been a medicinal cannabis activist for over 15 years and has worked extensively in drafting legislation and law enforcement plans for the new dimension of legal medicine. He works with patients and patients' rights groups, lobbies and national advocacy groups. If weed was legal expertise, he'd be "the guy on the corner."

Regarding the legal gap between smoking weed or medicinal cannabis, he says, "If they get caught, I tell my patients to just say they were doing it for the hell of it."

Medicinal cannabis laws are confoundingly thorny, unlike the plant in question. A long list of can-do and can't-do legislation adds up to conflict between levels of government and continuing confusion over raids, trials and incarcerations nationwide. It takes real education to sort these loopholes out, so what follows is a primer on the different and often conflicting ways that federal, state, county and city laws regard medicinal cannabis.

Sacramento city's legal haze

Sacramento city government doesn't really have anything to say on the case of medicinal cannabis. The 45-day moratorium is the first time that the existence of cannabis dispensaries has ever been addressed by the city, and progress toward developing zoning code, tax plans and other regulations is going to take a while. At present, the city refers to a copy of the county's policy on medicinal cannabis.

Other California cities have adopted new ordinances pertaining to dispensaries. In Berkeley, dispensaries can't open in certain zoning areas or within 300 feet of a school. In Santa Barbara, dispensaries must apply for a city permit to operate, then pay a continuous fee to stay legit. In Davis, city government banned dispensaries entirely. Last month, Oakland became the first city in the country to introduce a specific tax on medicinal cannabis, levying an $18 tax for every $1,000 of gross sales.

Sacramento County's duplicative statutes

Sacramento County has a few provisions for medicinal cannabis but leaves most of the lawmaking to the state. The Board of Supervisors decided to comply with California's medicinal cannabis plan in December 2008 and instituted a program to provide THC patients with the state's Medical Marijuana ID card.

County code contains one ordinance in addition to state law: an increase in penalty for publicly smoking medicinal cannabis. This was a provision included with the adoption of state law. Smoking cannabis for non-medical purposes ( ie. "getting high") only nets you a possession charge and a $100 fine, but medicinal cannabis is punished much more harshly. If you're smoking your legal medicinal joint strolling through the city, you can get busted for a $1,000 fine and risk six months in jail. This is the discrepancy Landers highlighted earlier.

Literature display at Northstar Healing Collective

California state law: wellspring of legality

State law is the source for all real medicinal cannabis provisions in California. As addressed in previous articles in The Sacramento Press, legalization was brought about by two separate laws: Proposition 215 and State Bill 420.

Prop 215 was added to voter ballots in the 1996 general election and was passed by a 55.6 percent majority. The ballot measure added language to the California Health and Safety Code under the title of the Compassionate Use Act. Language states that criminal law no longer applies to "seriously ill Californians" and their "primary caregivers" for the possession and cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes, and that no physician would be subject to punishment for its recommendation.

The CUA also lists ailments that are considered treatable with cannabis such as "cancer, anorexia, AIDS, [and] chronic pain," but the list is by no means binding or complete. It is key to note that medicinal cannabis is not a prescription for a specific illness, but it is a recommendation that can be applied to individuals on a case-by-case basis and does not require a specific condition to even be mentioned, according to Americans for Safe Access.

State Bill 420 is a separate law that did not amend Prop 215. Altering 215 was deemed to be unconstitutional, as doing so would override the intentions of voters. Instead, 420 recognized medicinal cannabis in the state legislature and introduced new provisions for dispensaries and patient ID cards. This was intended to better allow the enforcement of patient protections and allow all qualified patients to have the cannabis option open.

In the language of the bill, patients and caregivers who "collectively or cooperatively" cultivate cannabis for medical purposes cannot be punished on those grounds alone. This also allows dispensaries to exist, but only as not-for-profit enterprises. This is distinct from non-profit in an important way: Non-profit is a federal listing. Dispensaries, of course, aren't interested in asking the Feds for permission.

Medicinal cannabis dispensaries are almost exclusively a California phenomenon. Several other states have a handful of cooperatives, but the vast majority are here in the golden state. This means that federal policy toward dispensaries and federal court cases deal entirely with California.

Under 420, qualified patients can also apply for a medicinal cannabis ID card under the Medical Marijuana Plan. (On the law books, the unscientific term "marijuana" is always used.) By presenting documentation and paying a fee for the Department of Health Services program, patients can receive an ID card that confirms their eligibility for one year. This program is primarily for convenience, but it has its remaining issues.

"Often times, just an ID card isn't enough," Landers said. "Police are the only ones to usually check ID. I carry my card, my application and my doctor's recommendation to stay safe. I don't even reduce them; I leave them as full-size papers."

SB 420 was passed by state legislature in 2003, but had a long history before it hit the law books. It was originally introduced in 2001 as SB 187 and passed both the Assembly and the Senate, but was placed in the suspense file — basically bill purgatory — and not sent to the governor. While in progress, the bill underwent significant rewriting until its language was identical to the later SB 420. The bill's authors and advocates decided to wait until the time was right for the governor to sign it (and the hemp-culture favorite number "420" was available.) Then-governor Gray Davis was lukewarm on the issue in 2001, but after his recall and replacement with Schwarzenegger he was more amenable to the idea. The 420 legislation was one of the last bills Davis signed on his way out the door.

Federal agents raid a San Francisco dispensary.

Federal law: The war on a plant

United States federal government lists cannabis as a Schedule 1 substance under the Controlled Substances Act. This means that cannabis is illegal and given the highest priority for control by the Drug Enforcement Agency under the Department of Justice. The CSA was drafted by the Nixon administration and passed by Congress in 1970 as part of an expansive drug enforcement package, the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act.

Since 1970, federal lawmakers have held that cannabis fits three criteria for control: that it has "a high potential for abuse," has "no currently accepted medical use in treatment" and "a lack of accepted safety for use [...] under medical supervision." These three points are extremely controversial, as a quarter of the states in the union have opened the door to medical usage and reform advocates can draw on a growing body of scientific evidence against potential for abuse and in favor of potential for medical benefits.

Almost all cannabis arrests are made at the state or local level, but the federal ban is by no means purely symbolic. The War on Drugs still makes battlefields out of legitimate businesses, as federal agents raid medicinal cannabis dispensaries and supersede state law. According to a report by the Marijuana Policy Project, over 190 dispensaries in California have been raided since 1996. Raids can consist of seizure of property and medicine, often the physical destruction of security equipment and computers, and some have resulted in incarcerations of medicinal cannabis patients, according to the MPP. Not all raided patients end up getting tried.

"A lot of patients aren't ever put on trial," Landers said. "They're held without Fifth Amendment rights and can't be charged with a crime."

When patients find themselves on trial in federal courts, they have few resources at their disposal. In the 1998 case U.S. v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that state legality was not a workable defense, overruling a previous federal court decision. A 2005 Ninth Circuit case,U.S.Gonzales v. Raich, ruled against another legal defense: "medical necessity" could no longer stand up in court. These decisions greatly constrict the defense options that patients have; state law and medical recommendations don't protect them from conviction.

"You can't make the case for the medicinal benefits of marijuana in court, but federal prosecutors can talk smack about medicinal cannabis all they want," Landers said. "They can use the same arsenal that you're denied."

Federal courts did agree to one protection regarding medicinal cannabis: the rights of doctors to recommend it. In the 2000 district court decision of Conant v. McCaffrey, doctors became protected from federal punishment for discussing or recommending THC to their patients. This was regarded as a First Amendment right and thus ensured.

"Doctors that prescribe medical cannabis are true patriots," said Brian Davies, co-owner of the local Canna Care dispensary. "They study hard for eight years and then risk their careers and reputations to prescribe people the medicine they need."

Different presidential administrations have different approaches to enforcement when it comes to medicinal cannabis. Under Clinton, civil measures were preferred over raids, and cases were generally sorted out in court. In the Bush years, the War on Drugs was in full swagger and raids became more commonplace. Now, under the Obama administration, the medicinal cannabis policies of the DEA remain in flux.

Obama promised before and after his election that federal raids of state-legal dispensaries and patients would stop, but the DEA's trademark door-busting has yet to cease.

"I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue," he told the Oregon Mail Tribune in March, and continued that the "basic concept of using medical marijuana for the same purposes and with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors, I think that's entirely appropriate."

Yet, at least six dispensaries in California have been raided since Obama took office.

A DEA spokesperson clarified this seeming contradiction: "Obama didn't say that DEA raids would stop . He said that those abiding by state law would be given the lowest enforcement priority." He also alleged that medicinal cannabis activists have unrealistic expectations. "It doesn't mean 'no more DEA raids forever,' that's just what the legalizers want to hear."

The DEA source said that they "don't get to choose the laws they enforce," but acknowledged that "there is a selection process as to which dispensaries get raided." According to the source, the choice is based on complaints or reports of "harm to the community."

Only the most careless dispensaries get raided, according to Landers, so for the most part clubs are only partly worried about federal agents breaking up the show.

"It's always a concern, but we're a legitimate business and we're staying open," said Clyde Baker, owner of Hugs Alternative Care.

The jumble of legal cannabis statutes, and lack thereof, resembles an M.C. Escher sketch. Numerous perspectives all seem to be true at once, but in the end, it's just lines on paper.

Photos by Cheya Cary / Frederic Larsen of Corbis

Editor's Note: The Sacramento Press editorial staff edited this article after it was published due to a formatting error.

Know your ganja: A tour of local cannabis clubs

2009-07-30T03:51:29Z

Approaching an unassuming commercial building in a quiet part of town, you might think to double-check the address -- is this really a cannabis dispensary? It's just another discreet storefront surrounded by small-scale businesses. Where are the glaring neon lights, the billows of heavy smoke, the muggers, the hustlers, the junkies, the wild pot-smoking depravity in the streets?

And then you realize: it's just another pharmacy, man.

To Californians without the cannabis card, the idea of a cannabis dispensary is a funny sort of abstraction - a fantastical "pot store" that D.A.R.E. education and anti-drug advertising never anticipated. Medicinal cannabis dispensaries can be found in 13 states across the country, where it has been legalized by ballot initiative or the signing of a bill (AK, CA, CO, HI, ME, MI, MT, NV, NM, OR, RI, VT, and WA).

California made the first jump into medicinal legalization in 1996 thanks to a 55% majority vote for Prop. 215. After hard-fought negotiation and years of delay, the California Legislature further defined the legality with State Bill 420 in 2003, which added greater specificity to the measure and offered a second layer of state protection to cannabis patients.

In Sacramento, medicinal cannabis establishments are fairly commonplace, and have been tolerated by law enforcement since they first started popping up in 2005. After finally catching the scent, Sacramento city government has acknowledged them and has imposed a 45-day moratorium on dispensary development to research how many there are and what can be done to regulate them.

Under present city law, cannabis clubs can open just like any other business and require no extra paperwork for the sale of THC medicines. By state law, the dispensaries all must operate as not-for-profit collectives or cooperatives as a 501 (c)(3). In accordance with this, patients can pool their resources to open a shop -- that's how they all start -- and must reinvest all their earnings into salaries, rent, insurance, product quality, and other expenses to have a bottom line of zero.

Nearing the club, you notice that the building's windows are tinted or barred, and the shop's logo is printed in simple typeface, with no image of the iconic seven-fingered hemp leaf. Clubs always have an eye toward safety due to the sensitive nature of their business. Frequently, store owners post cameras to watch over the area outside and hire a friendly but firm security guard to help out.

To get in, you'll have to ring a doorbell or press a buzzer, and the staff will attend to you within 10 seconds. Some dispensaries have an unlocked front door and a buzzer inside, but others have their patients wait briefly out on the street.

"Safety is our number one concern," said Lanette Davies, co-owner of Canna Care, a dispensary in North Sacramento on Harris Street. "We don't want people to feel scared or feel shady coming to get their medicine. These people are already sick, so we want them to be as comfortable as possible."

Various waiting areas and numerous sofas

'Comfort' is certainly the first word that occurs to you once you get inside a dispensary. The place immediately strikes you as far more cozy than a doctor's office, with plush leather sofas, walls covered in psychedelic posters, magazines to flip through, informational pamphlets to take home, and a big-screen TV tuned to the news, the Discovery Channel or The Boondocks.

"Everything here is designed to be clinical," said American Alliance for Medical Cannabis state director Ryan Landers at the El Camino Wellness Center. "The check-in window, the music, even down to the bright clean floor -- it's what patients want to see." El Camino, off of I-80 in North Sacramento, is the only club this reporter visited that had a landscaped pagoda garden out front and floor-to-ceiling clear glass windows.

Exotic exterior of El Camino Wellness center

Waiting areas range in professionalism -- some look like upscale hotel lobbies, but most look like the living room of a very, shall we say, "green" family.

"Everyone who works here is family," said Clyde Baker, owner of Hugs Alternative Care near the UC Davis Medical Center. He means that biologically and spiritually. As is the case with many cannabis dispensaries, most of his employees are relatives or longtime friends.

"We have a great understanding and trust between us," he said. "If they say they want to take some medicine home with them, I know they'll be good for it."

A cordial receptionist will check your doctor's recommendation or your medicinal cannabis ID card before you enter the patients-only showroom, where the shop's medicine is on display.

Displays of edibles, smokables and growables

Huge glass cases contain a wide variety of cannabis, cannabis products and other non-cannabis herbal remedies. Any dispensary will have a selection of old-fashioned smokable buds, usually between five and 15 different strains ranging in price and potency. Common names to find are OG Kush, Sour Diesel, Northern Lights, Orange Crush or Purple Haze -- different balances of the two species cannabis sativa and cannabis indica that have different flavors, THC content, and are recommended for different purposes.

"I prefer a good sativa myself," Baker said, "it's much more of a picky-upper that can help you focus and still treats my chronic back pain. A good heavy indica can help you relax and get to sleep."

Any serious cannabis dispensary will also have a wide selection of edibles, baked goods that have THC oil cooked right in. Edibles can appear in the form of cookies, brownies, carrot cakes, cherry cobblers, ice creams or marshmallow rice squares, which all come in different prices and dosages. These edibles are a smoke-free medicine for patients with sensitive lungs, a sweet tooth, or both.

Most cannabis dispensaries will also have a rotating inventory of other cannabis products. This includes things like bottles of THC oil, tins of topical THC balms, eyedroppers of THC tincture (a bud soaked in alcohol), and small cannabis plants ready to take home and grow. These plants are all rooted cuttings of successful female plants that are guaranteed to bear ounces of medicine with proper care and a little luck.

Medical research on cannabis has documented its effectiveness with relieving symptoms of a long list of diseases. Cancer patients on chemotherapy, AIDS sufferers with chronic nausea, people living with multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, rheumatoid arthritis or fibromyalgia all come to cannabis dispensaries seeking mental and physical peace and tranquility.

Other herbs share the stage with cannabis at some dispensaries. Occasionally, you can find bags of St. John's Wort, Star Anise and Slippery Elm Bark, selections of teas and soaps and other personal care products available along with THC medicine. These plant remedies are standard fare at a health food store, so next to NorCal Super Skunk, they can seem just a little underwhelming.

Pricing charts at two dispensaries

Employees will happily show you through their collection and describe the expected effects and experiences each product has to offer. Anything you're interested in they'll pick out and let you look over, even offering lenses or microscopes to see the crystal quality of cannabis buds. Once you make a selection, they'll bag it up and take you to the register. The cost can be $5-10 above "street" prices, but you're paying for much more than just the bud: hospitality, management, compensation for time and materials, security, and, yes, California sales tax.

On your way out, they'll watch over you until you get to your car or hop on the bus. Most cannabis dispensaries are located near public transit lines to better serve patients with limited mobility. Watching patients leave through security cameras is both for their safety and the club's. Patients are generally forbidden to "medicate" on the premises, and illegally exchanging meds with non-patients is equally discouraged. Crime such as robbery of an exiting patient or of the entire club, is rare, according to Sacramento Police Department Spokesman, Sgt. Norm Leong.

"We want to maintain an open relationship with law enforcement," Landers said. "Crimes are infrequent, so when they do happen, we want to be able to report them."

Clubs that have been around for more than a few months get usual inspections from the Sacramento police. Inspections focus on structural matters such as main entrances, windows and back doors, to ensure security. Hugs Alternative Care has been robbed twice, but has since stepped up security. The crimes were reported to the police.

"I really can't say enough about the Sacramento Police Department," Baker said. "They dealt with us with the utmost respect and concern for our well-being."

Safety was reported by all to be the first concern. While at the club you might run into full families, with kids hanging around patiently in the waiting rooms, watching Spongebob for a few minutes while their parents get their medical treatments.

Almost half of the cannabis dispensaries in Sacramento opened in the last six months, according to club owners. Many new dispensaries were created in response to the new Obama administration's drug policy of no federal raids. Despite the recent influx, no new clubs can be opened during the 45-day moratorium, which the Sacramento City Council can extend for up to two years. All club owners and managers agreed, though, that cannabis dispensaries should be as normal as Rite-Aid.

A model transaction at Northstar Healing Collective

"Medical cannabis is here to stay," Baker said, "and it should be."

It's quick, it's easy and it's starting to get more accessible. If you show up at 4 p.m., you can be in and out before 20 after.

Photos by Cheya Cary