Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "marijuana"

Marijuana by the numbers

2011-11-15T04:47:14Z

Under heavy scrutiny from the federal government and an administrative freeze on the city’s permit program, medical marijuana dispensaries in Sacramento could face a full ban – but if Sacramento’s dispensaries are shut down, what happens to the city budget bottom line?

In total, the city has received approximately $1.4 million since the start of the permit process for medical marijuana dispensaries – nearly $1 million from one-time fees – according to Maurice Chaney, Economic Development Department spokesman.

If the city were to ban medical marijuana dispensaries, they could see a potential $528,000 budget shortfall from reduced or eliminated marijuana business operations taxes in the 2011-12 fiscal year.

The rate of the business operations tax levied on dispensaries in the city is 4 percent. This is in addition to California sales tax that all businesses are required to pay to the state franchise Tax Board.

The total amount of revenue projected in the FY 2011-12 city budget from medical marijuana business operations taxes was $1 million. Taxes are paid quarterly, so the Finance Department estimated $250,000 in revenue each quarter of the current fiscal year.

The total first-quarter income to the city from medical marijuana business operations taxes was actually $361,000 – a surplus of $111,000. This reflects revenue received from July 1 to Sept. 30. Data for October is not available yet, Brad Wasson, revenue manager for the city Finance Department, said Monday.

Although the city has recouped the costs of the dispensary program for the initial year, possible budget impacts from a full ban – if one should be instituted in the near future – are hard to speculate, according to city spokeswoman Amy Williams.

“If budget adjustments need to be made in the mid-year,” Williams said, “city staff will make recommendations to the City Council, and they will decide (how to proceed).”

Let’s take a look at the numbers across the board.

How many dispensaries are we talking about?
There were 39 registered medical marijuana dispensaries in the city in 2009. Only registered dispensaries were eligible to apply for the first phase of dispensary operations permits under a city ordinance passed in November 2010.

Each permit cost $5,000. This was a one-time permit application fee and it was only collected until February 2011. After the February deadline, no more initial permit applications were accepted.

The actual number of eligible dispensaries that applied for Phase 1 permits was 35 – bringing in a total of $175,000 in application fee revenue for fiscal year 2010-11, according to Wasson.

There are two phases in the city’s dispensary permit process and the second phase was only open to dispensary operators who satisfied the requirements of Phase 1 – no new applicants could come into the process at that time.

Finance Department staff estimated that, of the 35 dispensaries eligible to apply for the second phase, 25 would complete the application.

The actual number of Phase 2 permit applications received by the Oct. 11 deadline was 29.

How much money does the city receive from dispensaries?
The city Finance Department is responsible for the city’s medical marijuana dispensary operations program at a cost of $315,000 for a single fiscal year, according to Wasson.

Each dispensary pays an annual program fee of $12,600, starting with the submission of the Phase 2 permit application.

With 29 Phase 2 applications submitted, the actual amount of program fee revenue collected so far in FY 2011-12 is $302,000.

In addition to Phase 1 and Phase 2 operating permit applications, medical marijuana dispensaries in Sacramento must also apply for special use permits through the city Zoning Department.

Each special use permit application fee ranges from $15,000 to $22,000, depending on the proposed location for the business and other determining factors, according to Wasson.

Thirty-eight dispensaries applied for special use permits, resulting in $651,000 of one-time application fee revenue for the city so far in FY 2011-12.

Because special use permit applications are one-time costs and this is the first year medical marijuana dispensaries have been allowed to apply for special use permits, Wasson said there was no projection for that revenue in the city budget.

“It’s a process that is already in place in the Zoning Department,” Wasson said. “Every business requiring a special use permit pays these fees, so the budget projection for that department isn’t specific to dispensary special use permits.”

The Finance Department prepares a mid-year budget update for the City Council in February, Wasson said. At that time, the department will make recommendations for any necessary adjustments to the city budget.

“It would be nice to report that we had a surplus (from business operations taxes),” Wasson said. “But at this point, we really don’t know what is going to happen.”

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Feds crack down on medical marijuana dispensaries

2011-10-13T06:28:10Z

Local medical marijuana dispensaries recently came under fire as the federal government began cracking down on illegal marijuana growing and dispensing operations across the nation.

But wait – medical marijuana is legal in California, right? Yes and no.

In the wake of a June 2011 memo sent to state attorney generals from the Department of Justice warning of the federal government’s intention to shut down illegal marijuana operations, there have been numerous raids on dispensaries in California.

Some local operators have received warning letters that they may be next.

“Joanne,” a dispensary operator in Sacramento who wants to remain anonymous, said Wednesday that local operators have always known the federal government might intervene.

“There’s never been a promise that it wouldn’t happen,” Joanne said. “Everyone is on high alert now.”

Under federal law, the production, distribution and use of marijuana for any purpose is illegal.

Exceptions have been made, however.

In 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the Compassionate Investigational New Drug Study program allowing a select handful of patients to use marijuana for medical purposes.

The program was closed to new applicants in 1992, largely due to a huge increase in applications from AIDS patients. After the program was closed, 13 patients already in the program were allowed to continue. Of those, four currently remain on the program.

In California, a statewide voter initiative – Proposition 215, known as the Compassionate Use Act – was passed in 1996 by 56 percent of the voters, allowing medical access to marijuana for seriously ill patients.

As of 2011, 16 states have medical marijuana laws on the books that recognize a medicinal value for marijuana. California is one of them.

Despite state laws popping up across the nation, the federal law has remained unchanged – marijuana use for any purpose is still illegal.

In 2007, as Barack Obama was campaigning for president of the United States, he stated his support of legalization of marijuana for medical purposes. However, until it was legalized, Obama said, he wouldn’t use federal resources to enforce the federal law.

A memo from the Department of Justice followed in October 2009, reiterating that the DOJ wouldn’t focus federal resources on prosecuting “individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws” for the medical marijuana use.

Although the memo did not “legalize” marijuana, it opened the floodgates for dispensary operators to open shop in states that had laws on the books allowing medical marijuana use.

Max Del Real, a lobbyist for the Sacramento Alliance of County Collectives (SACC), a medical cannabis trade association, said in a July interview that there were approximately 45 to 65 medical marijuana dispensaries operating in Sacramento county at that time – but that number was just an estimate since none of those operations were permitted through county administration.

According to a city staff report, when the city enacted its medical marijuana ordinance in November 2010, there were already 39 registered medical marijuana dispensaries operating in the city.

A new influx of dispensaries – including some large-scale, industrial marijuana cultivation centers with revenue projections in the millions of dollars – quickly caught the attention of the DOJ.

In an attempt to curtail this potential profiteering, U.S. Attorney General James M. Cole released the June memo stating that the DOJ would use federal resources to prosecute illegal marijuana cultivation, distribution and use – including marijuana for medicinal purpose.

“The Ogden (Memo) was never intended to shield such activities from federal enforcement action and prosecution, even where those activities purport to comply with state law,” Cole stated.

Hence, the DOJ was essentially saying that state laws regarding the legalization of medicinal marijuana are irrelevant when it comes to the prosecution of marijuana growers, sellers and distributors.

Ryan Landers, director for the American Alliance for Medical Cannabis, said he disagrees with the DOJ’s stance on medical marijuana, calling the recent enforcement actions of the Department of Justice “heavy-handed” and unnecessary.

“The genie’s out of the bottle, and the Feds are trying to shove it back in,” Landers said. “We could achieve the same thing through regulation instead of direct attack.”

Despite the recent focus on prosecuting dispensaries by the federal government, Sgt. Andrew Pettit, Sacramento Police Department spokesman, said that the department isn’t “cracking down” on dispensaries.

“We don’t have a narcotics team,” Pettit said. “Our concern with (dispensary operators) is only that they follow the regulations.”

Pettit said the department has specific protocols to follow when an operator is in violation of any local ordinance, and police officers will turn those cases over to the District Attorney.

Joanne said that it’s the “opportunists” that break the rules, doing harm to the industry and harm to the patients.

“There some bad apples out there, yes,” Joanne said. “But it isn’t the industry as a whole. The few that break the rules make the rest of us look bad.”

Still, Joanne said the DOJ raids are not necessarily a bad thing.

“It’s going to be a good thing when the dust clears,” Joanne said. “It will make the industry better, and the grey areas a little less grey.”

Calls for comment to the Department of Justice and the state Attorney General’s Office were not returned by press time.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA TIMELINE
1978 – Federal court rules in favor of a glaucoma patient’s use of medical marijuana in Randall v. U.S.

1978 – President Jimmy Carter signs the Compassionate Investigational New Drug Study program

1992 – President George H. W. Bush closes the CIND program to new applicants. Only four individuals remain in the program.

1996 – California voters pass the Compassionate Use Act (Proposition 215), legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

2001 – U.S. Supreme Court rules that state and federal laws do not need to conform with each other.

2007 – Presidential candidate Barack Obama states support of medical marijuana legalization, and assures voters he will not use any federal resources to enforce the current federal law.

2008 – The California legislature passes Senate Bill 420 (SB420), instituting a statewide medical marijuana ID card program.

2008 – Attorney General Jerry Brown clarifies state medical marijuana guidelines, requiring dispensaries to become collective nonprofit organizations.

May 2009 – The city of Sacramento enacts an ordinance to allow dispensary operators to apply for special operating permits within the city.

October 2009 – The Ogden Memo is released from the Department of Justice reiterating that federal resources will not be used to enforce current federal laws against medical marijuana users.

June 2011 – The Cole Memo is released from the Department of Justice stating that federal resources will be used to enforce current federal laws prohibiting marijuana production, distribution and use.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Medical marijuana supporters protests in front of Sacramento Federal Courthouse

2011-10-07T18:42:11Z

Around 20 medical marijuana supporters protested Friday in front of the Sacramento Federal Courthouse. The protest started at 10 a.m. and is scheduled to end by 1 p.m.

Four Twenty and Nine Tens; The Sizzling Sirens Perform 'I Love You Mary Jane!'

2011-04-26T01:28:27Z

The atmosphere was good. Harlow’s was dim, but not dark, and the stage lighting cast a tint of green throughout the club. The Harley White Jr. Orchestra was on the floor, playing an upbeat jazz number to signal the beginning of the show (and though there ended up being a 15-minute delay, no one seemed to notice). Sizzling Sirens were running around everywhere, attractive women dotting the crowd in rhinestone and fringe, lingerie-inspired getups.

“I Love You Mary Jane! Cannabis Cabaret” was performed by the Sizzling Sirens Burlesque Experience late last Friday night. The show was described on the Sirens’ website as “a one-of-a-kind tribute themed to expose a variety of Mary Jane’s manifestations in American culture throughout time.”

And while marijuana was presented with affection throughout the show, its history was hardly exposed. Fun facts (i.e. there are more than 200 slang terms for pot) were scattered between dancers’ performances but, for the most part, that was the extent to which the theme was explored.

Pot and perky cleavage seems an infallible combination, one that should result in a great show by default. But the show was not well thought out, with no clear middle or end. There wasn’t a lot of singing, dialogue, or the girls dancing together as a whole. Had an individual been looking for something similar to cabarets depicted in movies and television shows, they would have been disappointed.

Oversized feathered fans and long riding crops come to mind when recalling one of the show’s highlights, a dance performed by Colette Corbeau and Alijiah Dresden. There were a few surprising instances as well, like a Siren adorning six cheetah-print pasties and posing as a cat, inspired by the “Purple Pussy” strain of marijuana. The crowd’s encouraged participation in spanking the Sizzling Sirens probably didn’t hurt the show, either.

Whether “I Love You Mary Jane! Cannabis Cabaret” lived up to its own written description or not, most of the crowd seemed more than happy watching hot, dancing girls proclaim a love for marijuana to the mood setting sounds of the Harley White Jr. Orchestra.

City checks up on closed pot shops

2011-02-12T01:30:27Z

Sacramento code enforcement personnel were following up Friday to make sure four medical marijuana dispensaries have shut down.

Letters were mailed Friday to property owners and the owners of all four shops after none of them submitted applications to operate legally under the city's new rules by a Monday deadline. Two shops were located in Midtown.

Officials are asking the community to help keep an eye out for any new dispensaries that may open up during the city's first attempt to regulate the shops.

All four appear to be closed. Letters must still be sent notifying owners that they must stop operating, if they haven't already, within 15 days of the letter or the city will take action, said Bob Rose, the city's code enforcement manager.

"So they can't just pop back up," he said.

The city could issue administrative penalties and take civil action against the owners, he said.

City staff are now processing applications from 35 dispensaries that met the deadline. The Sacramento City Council passed the city's first ordinance regulating the shops in November in response to a flurry of new shops that have opened.

Under the ordinance, only 39 dispensaries that had registered with the city by August 2009 could apply to continue operating.

The four dispensaries were registered at 2001 K St., 2208 29th St., 2105 Marconi Ave. and 4690 Natomas Blvd., Suite 130. A code enforcement officer who performed site inspections this week said only one location still had a sign up, but looked as if it has stopped operating.

"Three were certainly closed, by all appearances," Rose said.

Six or seven out of the 39 dispensaries were told to move because they were operating in residential areas, rather than areas zoned for commercial or industrial use. The dispensaries had to move by Oct. 26. The four shops that didn't apply were not among those six.

The Community Development Department’s Code Compliance Division is asking people to call the city at 311 if any new shops open up or appear to move. A code enforcement officer will then go out to verify whether a new shop has opened, which is not allowed under the city ordinance.

"What we hope will happen is someone would call them in," Rose said. "Anything new that pops up out there, theoretically, we would get a phone call."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter at The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Most medical pot shops meet deadline

2011-02-10T01:50:51Z

Nearly all of Sacramento's medical marijuana dispensaries have applied to keep operating legally under new city regulations.

City revenue staff have begun processing documents from 35 dispensaries that submitted applications under the city's first ordinance regulating the not-for-profit shops. Dispensaries with pending applications can continue operating until Jan. 9, 2012, under the regulations.

Four of the city's 39 registered medical marijuana dispensaries didn't turn in applications by a Monday deadline, said city Revenue Division Manager Brad Wasson.

"We're going to regulate this pretty extensively and be proactive," he said.

In November, the Sacramento City Council created the city's first regulations for the shops since California voters legalized smoking pot for medical reasons in 1996. Like their counterparts in other California cities, Sacramento officials saw a need for local regulation as the number of dispensaries grew.

The city Community Development Department’s Code Compliance Division is responsible for following up on the four dispensaries that didn’t submit applications. Late applications aren’t accepted.

Under Sacramento's new rules, only the 39 dispensaries that had been registered as operating within the city by August 2009 could apply to continue operating.

The dispensaries submitted applications under the first phase of an extensive, two-phase application process. The application of at least one, The Healing Center at 3257 Folsom Blvd., is being challenged by neighboring businesses.

The applications are now being reviewed by the city. The process includes criminal background checks with the Sacramento Police Department and the California Department of Justice.

Dispensaries must operate as collectives or cooperatives of individuals who come together to share marijuana as medicine. The applications must include the dispensaries' plans to operate as not-for-profit entities and to avoid dispensing marijuana to non-patients. Those plans will be reviewed by the city's Revenue Division and city attorney's office, Wasson said.

Dispensaries that meet all the city's requirements for Phase One will get letters inviting them to continue the process. The dispensaries must get special permits from the city Planning Commission or zoning administrator. City Council members can weigh in on any of the permits by requesting they be placed on a council agenda for discussion.

In the second phase, dispensaries apply for special operating permits from the city Finance Department's revenue division. Dispensary operating permits must be renewed each year, just like other specially permitted business activities such as massage businesses and card rooms, he said.

Dispensaries will pay $33,000 or $39,600 during the application process for the first year of operation. Renewing permits will cost about $12,000 annually.

In November, voters approved taxing dispensaries up to 4 percent, which goes into effect July 1.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Folsom Blvd. riled up over marijuana dispensary

2011-01-21T02:18:02Z

A controversy is growing over a medical marijuana dispensary that wants to do business in East Sacramento.

There's mixed reaction, but not everyone is happy a medical pot shop may be operating out of a storefront and attached house at 3257 Folsom Blvd. There's disagreement over whether the dispensary has opened shop yet.

Questions arose after representatives of the dispensary and the landlord notified some neighbors the building's lease had been taken over by the dispensary and the storefront's windows were tinted black in late December, then retinted darker in January. The space has been vacant since a charitable thrift store, This 'n' That Thrift & Gift, left in early September.

Half a dozen nearby business and property owners expressed concerns about the dispensary's legality, operations and impact on neighboring businesses. At least three have voiced their concerns to the city, which is in the process of legalizing and regulating such dispensaries following a City Council vote in November.

"I just don't think it's an appropriate venue for what we're trying to do in this corridor," said Peggy Orr, who took over ownership of The Pink House, a shoe and accessory shop, at 1462 33rd St. in September. "I'm not making a judgment on medical marijuana. I'm just saying I don't think it enhances the neighborhood."

But others said they don't think the dispensary will harm business in the area.

"Anybody's welcome to open any business they like, as far as I'm concerned," said D. Neath, who moved Archival Framing to 3223 Folsom Blvd. three weeks ago. "I just went through the death of a friend from cancer. And that (marijuana) was the only way she could eat."

Sacramento's new city ordinance, which took effect Jan. 7, only allows the 39 existing medical marijuana dispensaries to apply for permits. The 39 dispensaries had all been registered as operating within the city by August 2009.

However, the city told about six of those to move because they were operating in residential areas, rather than areas zoned for commercial or industrial use. The dispensaries had to move by Oct. 26, said city Revenue Division Manager Brad Wasson.

All dispensaries now have to go through an extensive, two-phase application process. The first phase includes getting a special use planning permit from the city Planning Commission, which helps ensure locations are appropriate. Those decisions can be called up by City Council members. The second phase involves getting a special operating permit from the city Finance Department's revenue division, he said.

The deadline to apply for the first phase is Feb. 7. Only one of the 39 dispensaries has applied so far, Wasson said.

Some neighbors said the dispensary didn’t meet the city's deadline for dispensaries to move and violates a criteria that dispensaries not be located within 300 feet of residential areas. Two said the black windows make the business look like an adult store.

A political fundraising group – reportedly Republican – recently leased a small office space next door.

None of the business or property owners saw any activity at the site until late December or early January, said Paul Jorjorian, who owns buildings across the street from the dispensary.

Some people believe the dispensary has not opened. The only activity has come from contractors renovating the building, said one person.

Jorjorian and some of his tenants said they are concerned that people might congregate outside the business and cause problems. Parents may not allow their children to go to the businesses, which include a skateboard shop, he said.

The dispensary is called THC, or "The Healing Center," said Justin Karapetyan, who identified himself and Ted Smith as owners.

The dispensary, which has about 350 customers, will sell two types of medical marijuana: one that relaxes and increases appetite, and one that energizes. The shop will also sell small starter plants, edibles such as brownies and cookies, plus cannabis massage oil, lotions and lip balms. They will offer counseling and classes, Karapetyan said.

No one will smoke marijuana on site, he said.

"There is no medicating on premises. That is a stigma we're tyring to get away from," he said. "I would not want somebody opening up a shop and having a smokeout there. Or drive from the premises and, god forbid, get into an accident."

Karapetyan initially said THC had occupied the space for six months, or since mid-July. He later said the dispensary moved into the space in mid-September and began selling marijuana by appointment Oct. 1.

The dispensary that signed the lease for the 4,800-square-foot space had previously registered with the city as a mobile dispensary called CC 101, which was based in Paradise and whose owner was listed as Theodore Smith. The dispensary operated within Sacramento and had initially tried to register to dispense from a private home, but the city wouldn't allow that, Wasson said.

THC hasn't turned in an application to the city yet. However, the owner sent a letter stating that it began operating at the location Oct. 1. The owner or owners now have to prove that they were operating there before Oct. 26, Wasson said.

"I'm not saying they were, I'm not saying they weren't," he said. "I haven't gotten an application to look at."

Pot The Vote

2010-11-01T17:15:02Z

While many were gearing-up for an evening of trick-or-treating, Doug Benson was preparing to take the stage at the Punch Line Comedy Club. Doug continued his ‘Pot The Vote’ tour Sunday afternoon with fellow comedians Ngaio Bealum, David Huntsberger and Graham Elwood. The tour was designed around Proposition 19 and Doug’s belief in the legalization of marijuana.

The show itself was not your typical comedy routine; instead it was similar to the way Doug does his podcasts – a string of irrelevant thoughts tied together with other comedians interjecting. This is done by Doug inviting each guest comedian up one at a time to showcase their comedy while Doug sits on the stage and interjects. Doug, and the other comedians, did not try to play to the crowd itself, but more to their own feelings on life. They make no apologies for their banter but instead embrace it full-heartedly. For the audience this makes for a wild roller-coaster ride of comedy.

Anyone who has ever seen or heard Doug Benson knows he loves pot humor. The ‘Pot The Vote’ tour brings this front and center and clearly invites the audience to celebrate the PLANT Doug loves so much. During the hour and a half performance you could clearly hear that Doug’s speech was slurred and his performance / timing was off a little. However, to his credit, Doug was probably able to garnish more laughs with his botched jokes than any other comedian could. Why, because the subject matter is one of Marijuana and the audience he plays to is compassionate to his cause – this mixture makes for the missed joke, or botched lines, to become humorous in themselves (it could be argued that his botched jokes are actually not botched at all and are instead exactly what he intended).

Although Doug did not play to the audience per say, he does draw the audience in with his cleverness and his ability to think fast on his feet. His shows become a true ‘shared experience’ because he draws on the audience and seems to construct his bits in real time: making the audience actively involved in the material itself. The show was fun because Doug and his fellow comedic guests were not only playful but ingratiating. When they did interact with the audience, it was not mean or degrading but fun and playful – it was not about getting an easy laugh but more about celebrating the fans who appreciate their humor.

It is difficult to recite the four comedians’ humor here since so much of it is moment specific; without the proper perspective it may seem out of place or not humorous to many. However, so many of the lines had the audience rolling and looking for me. One of the funniest lines of the show was when Doug was discussing the upcoming governor election and said, “I know who should play Meg Whitman if they make a movie about her ---- John Lithgow.”

For upcoming shows and events at the Punch Line Comedy Club click here.

For more information on Doug Benson or the POT THE VOTE tour please see the following Sacramento Press article: Doug Benson of Super High Me, Marijuana-Logues & Last Comic Standing- to perform at Sac State

Photos by Marc McLaughlin.

Marc McLaughlin is a Contributing Writer and Photographer with Sacramento Press

Reefer Madness. Redux

2010-10-09T06:26:25Z

In 1936, "Tell the Children" was released in theaters. You may know it better as "Reefer Madness."
    In the film, a group of high school kids are lured into using "marihuana" by a couple of "pushers." Their experimentation immediately leads to disastrous results, including vehicular manslaughter, attempted rape, insanity, murder, suicide, and (gasp!) really, really fast piano playing.
    It ends, famously, with a high school principal pointing at the camera and suggesting that the events just portrayed are likely to happen again, except this time, to your children (won't somebody think of YOUR children!?!?!?).
 This was the first time that anti-pot activists played on parents’ fears with over-the-top, exaggerated claims about the effects of marijuana, but far from the last.
    In fact, this has been, to varying degrees, the modus operandi for the anti-pot crowd pretty much ever since.  But not anymore, right?
 I mean, our last three presidents have all admitted to smoking weed. They turned out OK – or at least turned into presidents.
    Medicinal marijuana has been legalized in 14 states, plus the District of Columbia. Eight more states have pending legislation or ballot measures to legalize it.
    Heck, right here in California we have a proposition, No. 19, that  would legalize marijuana and permit local government to regulate and tax commercial production, distribution and sale of the dastardly weed.  You would think that we could have a straightforward honest debate about the pros and cons of the proposition, without resorting to fearmongering, right?
 Not so fast, Kimosabe.
    I recently received my "Official Voter Information Guide" for the upcoming California general election. As someone who has never missed an opportunity to vote, I eagerly await Nov. 2.
  The first thing I do upon receiving the OVIG is open to the propositions section and read the arguments for and against each one. It's similar to a Cliffs Notes version of the proposition. I was especially eager to read the “Argument Against Proposition 19" section, on page 17.

Or, as I have dubbed it, "Reefer Madness, Redux."

  Now, this new version of fear peddling is much more subtle than it has been in years past. There'll be no jumping out of windows or attempted rapes – although there is implied vehicular manslaughter. (Old habits die hard).
  Inconspicuous though it may be, "Argument Against Prop. 19" follows the exact same template set those many years ago in the film by renowned exploitation film director Dwain Esper.

  Why should we vote against prop 19?

A: Because the authors made several huge mistakes in writing this initiative, which will have severe, unintended consequences.

*Scared yet? We'll let this slide. Let's even pretend that these severe and unintended consequences outweigh those severe and unintended consequences that are a direct result of creating a dangerous black market for a relatively harmless and potentially beneficial plant.

 B: Mothers Against Drunk Driving strongly opposes Prop. 19 because it because it will prevent bus and trucking companies from requiring that their drivers be drug-free. Companies won't be able to take action against a "stoned" driver until after he has a wreck, not before.

*They won't be able to take action before someone has a wreck? Even if all three of the precogs predict it, and there is no minority report? I kid, of course, but it will still be illegal to drive under the influence of marijuana, just as it is today. The only difference is you won't be able to fire the driver when he shows up on Monday because he decided to unwind on Friday night with a doobie instead of a scotch.

 C: School districts may currently require school bus drivers to be drug-free, but if Prop. 19 passes, their hands will be tied until after tragedy strikes. (won't somebody think of YOUR children?!?!?!?!?!?!) A school bus driver would be forbidden to smoke marijuana on school grounds or while actually behind the wheel, but could arrive for work with marijuana in his system.

*Same scare tactic as before, but this time . . . it’s happening to your kids! Notice, it says "could arrive to work with marijuana in his system". OMG, not in his system! anything but that! Won't somebody think of th. . . what. . .oh . . .really? I've just been informed that marijuana can stay in a persons system for as long as 40 days. Having it in one’s system by no means indicates inebriation. Of course, the driver would not be able to work while inebriated, as that’s still illegal.

 D: Public School Superintendent John Snavely warns that Prop. 19 could cost our schools as much as $9.4 billion in lost federal funding.

*Should President Barack Obama and Congress decide to cut off federal funding, which is possible, this could conceivably happen. But there has been no indication that this would be their response. In fact, Obama has taken a very laissez-faire approach to the states with regards to their marijuana laws (unlike, say, immigration). Very unlikely.

 E: Employers who permit employees to sell cosmetics or school candy bars to co-workers in the office may now also be required to allow any employee with a "license" to sell marijuana in the office.

*I actually laughed out loud when I read this. I hope it is true. "Sure, Bobby can sell his magazine subscriptions to save the rec center, but only if Moonbeam over here can slang dank and kind ganja gooballs in the lobby." Perfect.

 F: Under current law, if a worker shows up smelling of alcohol or marijuana, an employer may remove the employee from a dangerous or sensitive job, such as running medical lab tests in a hospital or operating heavy equipment. But if Prop. 19 passes, the worker with marijuana in his or her system may not be removed from the job until after an accident occurs.

*Do you see what they did here? It's the same "in his system" bait and  switch as in example C. If the proposition passes, they could still remove the employee for smelling of alcohol or marijuana if they had reason to believe he or she was under the influence. They just wouldn't be able to remove the worker for simply having it in his or her system (40 days).

 G: The California Police Chiefs Association opposes Prop. 19 because proponents "forgot" to include a standard for what constitutes "driving under the influence." Under Prop. 19, a driver may legally drive even if a blood test shows they have marijuana in their system.

*Noticing a trend yet? They didn't forget to include a standard for what constitutes driving under the influence. There is already one in place. One more time, say it with me: It is, and will continue to be, illegal to drive while under the influence of marijuana. Also, having marijuana "in your system" is not the same as being under its influence. Also, it seems to imply that those in law enforcement are against Prop. 19, which is absolutely not the case.

 H: Gubernatorial candidates Republican Meg Whitman and Democrat Jerry Brown have both studied Prop. 19 and are urging all Californians to vote no.

*This isn't really a scare tactic. I just think it's a clear argument in FAVOR of Prop 19.

 I: Don't be fooled. The proponents are hoping you will think Prop. 19 is about "medical" marijuana. It is not. Prop. 19 makes no changes either way in the medical marijuana laws.

*No. No they won't. At least not the ones that I've seen. For example, the  “Rebuttal to Argument Against Proposition 19”, on the same page 17 of the OVIG, does not mention medical marijuana once. Nor does the "Argument in Favor of Propositon 19" on the preceding page. Fascinating that the opponents of Prop. 19 would accuse the proponents of trying to mislead the voting public. Pot, meet kettle.

J: Prop. 19 is simply a jumbled legal nightmare that will make our  highways, our workplaces and our communities less safe. We strongly urge you to vote "No" on Prop. 19. 

*The high school principal is pointing at you through the camera. Tell The Children. Version 2.0.

Go ahead, vote "No" if you like. Or, vote "Yes". But don't vote scared.

Next week I am going to visit some of our local dispensaries to find out how they stand on Prop 19. You might be surprised by what I discover.

Image #1 from nocconservates.org
image #2 from godandscience.org
Image #3 from Iloveweed.net
Image #4 from 420times.com

Image #5 is the work of Brandon Darnell

“From the Crack House to the White House”

2010-08-03T08:58:30Z

“10 years ago I was high on crack cocaine, now I’m high on life.”, these are the words from Sacramento native, Bishop Ron Allen, a former crack cocaine addict for seven years, and now one of the must prominent leaders in the country on the war on drugs.

Allen united with law enforcement agencies from all over the world, who assembled themselves in the nation’s capitol last week to share data and strategies to help fight the escalating war on drugs in this country. The event was hosted by HIDTA (The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program) an organization under the executive order of the White House.

Allen was there with the I.F.B.C. (International Faith Based Coalition), an organization in which he is the founder and director of. The coalition focuses on drug prevention within the faith based community. The organization’s ideology is that people are more likely to receive an anti-drug message from their place of worship, rather than a message brought to them sporadically elsewhere by strangers. Allen, along with other members of his coalition were honored with the HIDTA Award for superior performance.

For more information on the I.F.B.C movement, call 916-807-1210.

(This story was originally written in April of 2010)

By Ray Johnson/Npaphoto.com

July issues at City Hall: Marijuana regulations, strong mayor

2010-07-05T19:17:44Z

Plans for local regulations on marijuana will share the spotlight with Mayor Kevin Johnson’s strong-mayor proposal at City Hall this month.

The City Council will tackle marijuana proposals at its July 13 and July 27 meetings. Before the meetings, the public is invited to weigh in on two proposed medical marijuana rules.

A meeting to gather input will be held in the second-floor hearing room of Historic City Hall, 915 I St., on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The city also held a public meeting last month about plans for a medical-marijuana ordinance.

At its July 13 meeting, the City Council is scheduled to address a proposal to tax marijuana dispensaries. The idea to tax pot dispensaries is part of a larger plan to raise an existing tax on businesses. In order for the city to tax pot shops and other businesses, a majority of voters must support a ballot measure, according to Patti Bisharat, interim assistant city manager. City officials said the "business operations tax" has been at the same level for 19 years.

Additional details about a tax on pot shops and other businesses will become available late next week, when the city clerk’s office is expected to release the City Council agenda for the July 13 meeting.

Plans to regulate medical-marijuana dispensaries in Sacramento will be on the council’s July 27 agenda. The Sacramento Press will continue to report on developments.

Meanwhile, Johnson’s strong-mayor plans are likely to be discussed again at City Council meetings later this month.

Johnson has indicated that he wants to ask council members to vote on the proposal in July. He said he hopes at least five will vote in favor of putting the proposal on the November ballot.

But Johnson faces hurdles in achieving that goal because the City Council voted 7-2 in June to prevent the city attorney from drafting language for the proposal.

Johnson’s campaign for a strong mayor form of government released a draft of the proposal written by third-party attorneys on June 30.

Photo by Brandon Darnell.

Caption: Jeanine Barnes, 66, said her extreme migraines are cured by medicinal marijuana, and her benefit card gets her a discount on prices at the Canna Care dispensary in Sacramento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Council considers pot and business taxes

2010-06-23T05:36:53Z

The Sacramento City Council wants to start taxing pot dispensaries and possibly increase a business tax.

Expecting California voters to legalize recreational marijuana in November and facing continued financial problems, the council discussed putting a measure on the general election ballot to ask Sacramentans to enact a tax on pot dispensaries and to increase the city's business operations tax (BOT) so bigger companies could pay a more proportionate share.

At a public hearing Tuesday afternoon, several council members indicated they're leaning toward alternatives to a 5 percent, across-the-board pot tax after hearing from at least a dozen patients, operators and advocates for the industry.

Other city councilmen said they may not support a tax increase for other businesses after business leaders Matt Mahood with the Sacramento Metro Chamber and Patty Kleinknecht with the River District opposed an increase, at least until further discussion could take place.

Pot sales are already taxed by the state at 8.75 percent. Currently, only Oakland and Berkeley impose city taxes on the facilities.

Some operators said they're willing to be taxed by the city at a "reasonable" rate, identified by some as 1 to 1.5 percent. The proposed 5 percent tax would be the highest in the state. Others said a city tax would make it impossible for them to provide medical marijuana free to no- or low-income patients, as they currently do. Marijuana advocates and patients alike said medical use of pot shouldn't be taxed because other legal drugs are not taxed.

"I understand the city is in a difficult financial situation. But you want to balance the budget on the backs of patients," said Joy Cole, a Sacramento resident and medical marijuana patient in her fifth year of remission from lung cancer. She was laid off nine months ago. "My ability to earn is limited. Now you want to penalize me further."

The ballot measure, as proposed by city staff, would ask voters to approve phasing in a 5 percent tax on pot stores and increasing the business tax to .07 percent of annual gross receipts for most other businesses within three years. If approved as proposed, the measure could mean an additional $4.5 million in general fund revenues in the first year and $8.8 million each year by year three, according to city staff estimates.

The current BOT is .04 percent of annual gross receipts, but a $5,000 cap exists. So 283 businesses that take in $10 million to $72 million and 38 businesses that take in more than $72 million pay only $5,000 in business operations taxes to the city each year. The measure would propose raising the cap to $50,000 annually.

Businesses pulling in $100,000 in annual gross receipts currently pay $66 in taxes each year, but they'd pay another $27 annually. Businesses with $10 million in annual gross receipts would pay an extra $3,000.

The measure proposes that clean-tech businesses be exempt from the tax for three years. Three categories covering professional business owners such as attorneys and lobbyists as well as hotels have a different rate structure involving flat fees.

Both items were proposed by city staff to provide more revenue for the city for fiscal year 2011/2012, when Sacramento is expected to face a $25 million deficit, said Interim City Manager Gus Vina.

Several council members said they'd like to consider a lower tax — more in line with Oakland's 1.8 percent — and the possibility of categorizing medical and recreational pot as two different products.

"I wouldn't think we would want to be so far out there on the extreme with this," Councilman Kevin McCarty said.

"I, too, have a problem with a tax that is so high," said Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy.

Sacramento has 39 medical marijuana dispensaries. The city has a ban on any new shops opening up after the council moved earlier this month to extend a moratorium on new dispensaries for another year.

Councilman Steve Cohn proposed broadening the measure's wording to include pot cultivation and production. Several council members asked city staff to do more research and provide alternatives for the pot tax and the proposed increase in the business operations tax.

Medical marijuana dispensary advocates said they'd like to meet with city staff between now and July 13 to discuss alternatives to the current proposed tax.

Oakland attorney James Anthony, who drafted Oakland's medical cannabis tax, said that city's 1.8 percent tax has proven burdensome. Representing the Sacramento Alliance of Collectives, he said after the meeting that he will propose creation of "low-scale" cultivation and production facilities in Sacramento, which could then be taxed.

"The problem is we're competing with an underground market that has no overhead.... and that certainly doesn't pay sales tax," he said. "What's going to happen... if you pile on a 5 percent tax — it will drive all of that activity back underground."

Several city councilmen, including Mayor Kevin Johnson, indicated they might not vote for any tax increase for other businesses right now, due to the economy. Companies already pay the highest utility taxes in the region, Mahood said.

In a unanimous vote, the nine-member council directed the city attorney to prepare language for the ballot measure allowing the council to consider options when the measure is brought back for a vote July 13.

The budget proposed for fiscal year 2010/2011 is balanced yet "full of fragile decisions" that include department consolidations and layoffs, said Vina, who urged the council to plan for the future by approving the proposed "minimal" revenue increases. The new measure wouldn't take effect until next July.

"I believe it is a moderate increase and, quite frankly, it brings equity to the BOT," he said.

Lax Oversight Creating A Boomtown For Illegal Medical Marijuana Shops

2010-05-24T22:01:16Z

Written by L.C. Linden, PublicCEO.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Sacramento has become a boomtown over the past year for medical marijuana dispensaries, but the influx of businesses may not be a boon to medical marijuana patients or the city in general.

"We don't want Sacramento to become like Los Angeles," which has been overwhelmed by a rampant proliferation of medical marijuana operations, said Don Johnson, director of Unity Non-Profit Collective, a dispensary with 3,100 members that opened in March 2009.

The collective, located in an industrial park off Tribute Road, sells only marijuana that is cultivated by its members and, unlike many other businesses of its ilk, scrupulously follows the state Attorney General guidelines regulating the industry, Johnson said.

Johnson eagerly welcomes regulation. He would like the city to enforce the moratorium that it passed last summer, which prohibits the establishment of new dispensaries and outlaws the expansion and relocation of existing ones. The City Council should renew the moratorium when it expires in June, he said. Enforcing the moratorium would aid law enforcement, stamp out derelict operations and curtail illegal drug dealing, he argued.

What's more, Johnson is calling on the City Council to approve an ordinance in draft form that would regulate the location and operation of the clubs. The proposed ordinance currently includes zoning limitations, keeping the businesses away from schools, parks, drug rehabilitation centers and other areas, and would impose a cap on the number of clubs at 12.

Currently, there are 39 dispensaries registered with the city of Sacramento, and the draft ordinance proposes a lottery to determine which 12 get to remain in business.

Johnson and others say Sacramento should be proactive about regulating the local dispensaries, lest the city become a hotbed of rogue clubs on par with Los Angeles.

In an effort to belatedly quell the chaos, in April the Los Angeles City Council ordered the closure of hundreds of pot clubs as of June. Only 137 will be allowed to remain in business. Consequently, Los Angeles faces an expensive backlash in the form of lawsuits from perhaps dozens of dispensaries forced to shutter.

Approximately 35 California cities, including Redding, Placerville, Citrus Heights, and Oakland, have approved ordinances regulating medical marijuana dispensaries, according to Americans for Safe Access, a nationwide medical marijuana advocacy group. Ninety-six cities in the state have passed moratoriums to date and 129 have banned the dispensaries outright, the group said.

In recent months, Johnson said, dispensaries have swarmed into Sacramento and have hung up their proverbial shingle while flaunting state and local laws and guidelines. The prospect of the cap has spurred a race among dispensaries to set up shop and make as much money as possible before being shut down.

Following state law, Johnson charges sales taxes at his dispensary, but patients have told him that other dispensaries in town do not. He has also heard that other clubs are not requiring recommendations from doctors.

As a result of shoddy practices, standards are lowered and medical marijuana patients suffer, Johnson said. He added that Unity tests all of its marijuana for active ingredients, pathogenic molds and other toxins to ensure it is safe for patients. Patients are recommended marijuana for a wide range of ailments, from insomnia to chronic pain to cancer.

Beyond his concern for the integrity of medical treatment with cannabis, Johnson admits that his competitors who don't play by the rules have affected his bottom line.

"We simply can't compete with operations that cut corners," Johnson said.

Johnson said that, partly due to the political influence of many dispensaries, the City Council is not motivated to regulate the industry-especially not until after the June 8 primary election, if not the Nov. 2 general election.

"Nobody wants to take the bull by the horns," he said. "The issue needs to be addressed and not passed off for another year. City leadership is needed now."

The Sacramento chapter of the ACLU expressed concern about limitations on the number of dispensaries, arguing the draft ordinance, as written, would "frustrate" the needs of medical marijuana patients and their caregivers.

Councilmember Steve Cohn, who represents District 3, said he is not concerned about a prevalence of dispensaries in areas like Central City, which encompasses Midtown and Downtown.

"Medical marijuana patients rely on (public) transit," he said, making it difficult for those people to visit far-flung strip malls and other outlying locations. If a cap on the number of dispensaries is eventually approved by the City Council, Cohn said, the council should devise a special use permit that would provide an exception to the 500-foot zoning rule and allow more of the businesses to locate in Central City.

With this kind of waiver, Cohn envisions the total number of dispensaries in the city exceeding 12. However, Cohn said he would not want the dispensaries in Central City to be located right next to one another. "There are limits," he said.

He said the earliest the City Council would take up the ordinance would be this summer.

Law enforcement groups such as the California Police Chiefs Association have cited increased crime near marijuana dispensaries.

Anita Gore, spokeswoman for the state Board of Equalization, said the agency collects annually between $58 million and $105 million in taxes on the sale of medical marijuana statewide. Gore explained the agency can't proffer an exact figure because many dispensaries don't register as dispensaries as such - they call themselves pharmaceutical sellers or health food stores, for example.

The recession has reinvigorated the cause of legalizing marijuana altogether, with proponents arguing that cash-starved state and local governments deserve to reap the riches of the industry through taxes. There is a marijuana legalization initiative on the November statewide ballot, and San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano has proposed complementary legislation, set to be heard in an assembly committee this fall.

L.C. Linden can be reached by contacting the editor at jspencer@publicceo.com

'Reefer Madness' lights up on stage

2010-04-05T01:32:32Z

Artistic Differences theater company opened a monthlong run of the hit musical "Reefer Madness" Friday evening. According to director Christine Nicholson, the company's largest cast ever is putting on this Capitol Stage musical production about a 1936 murder trial.

"The subject is also especially worth exploring, considering the upcoming California ballot," she added.

The story is based on the original musical appeared Off-Broadway in 2001, which in turn was based on the B-movie cult classic. Nicholson said she thinks this is the area's first performance of "Reefer Madness." The musical features many of the same characters as the film: Mae, Sally, Ralph and Jack. Mary Lane and Jimmy are in love, until Jack and Mae introduce Jimmy to "evil marihuana."

Nineteen songs are sung over two acts, with a 15-minute intermission. The 17 members of the cast make the most of the small stage. Singing and dancing across the stage and up a flight of stairs takes coordination and talent. The hard work was paid off through the audience's laughter.

"The show was hilarious," said Joy Gee. "The cast did an excellent job."

The show pulled no punches. Appearances were made by rockin' Jesus, who stole the show, and President Franklin Roosevelt, sitting in a wheelchair, his legs covered by a blanket.

"The performance was super clever. I loved the set and choreography," said Marcy Goodnow. "The cast was great, very strong ensemble."

"Reefer Madness" runs through May 2, Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. Tickets are $20, and can be purchased on their website. Capitol Stage is at 2509 R St.

Photos by Matthew Ceccato

The Argument For Legalization.

2010-01-13T01:10:58Z

In this Sunday’s Sacramento Bee, Marcos Breton blasts the attempt to legalize Marijuana.

Breton said, “… the point –for most users- is just getting high.”

Really?

I am 35 and an epileptic; I have had chronic Insomnia all my life and Marijuana has been the only thing that helped.

In 2005 I smoked Marijuana for the first time and all that happened was that I was relaxed and slept?

Over the last two years I have constantly complained of sever insomnia only to have doctors ignore my complaints.

Mr. Breton characterizes the people using Marijuana as just stoners looking for cover.

Having been on Pharmaceutical drugs for almost all my life I can tell you first hand how they zone you out and zap your energy worse than pot ever can.

Some of the common side effects of anti-seizure medications are: insomnia, psychotic symptoms and memory loss. - I have experienced all of them on these un-natural drugs.

These side effects are due to the fact that the base component of many pharmaceutical drugs is Monosodium Glutamate. According to the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology in 1995, MSG can cause asthmatic symptoms.

If cannabis is so bad why is it a base component of Dilantin, which is the oldest anti-seizure medication?

The cannabinoids that are present in Marijuana are actually essential for people with conditions such as epilepsy.

Perhaps, Mr. Breton, If Marijuana was legal we would have more medicine based on cannabis which is safer than many of the synthetic chemicals which are used in medications instead, and are inherently un-safe.

While it is true that TCH in Marijuana can cause paranoia, we should legalize Marijuana so that we can make it safe for those who need this natural medicine instead of the poisons that the drug companies want to shove down our throats to make $400 billon a year.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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