COUNTY MAY SNUFF OUT POT DISPENSARIES

Suppliers could be banned from opening in unincorporated areas

Donuel Bruno has a list of ailments: inverted scoliosis, degenerative
disk disease, carpal tunnel syndrome, insomnia.

Simply walking across a room or sitting for a half-hour caused him
extreme pain until he discovered the remedy for his health problems
- -- medical marijuana.

The 38-year-old Oakley resident gets his marijuana from a dispensary
and uses a vaporizer to breath in a mist of THC, the active chemical
in the sap of a cannabis plant.

"It's been the best thing I've ever done in my life," he said. "The
other medicines don't work."

Bruno and others who use medical marijuana in Contra Costa are about
to face barriers to access. County supervisors Tuesday are expected
to pass an ordinance that would ban medical marijuana dispensaries in
unincorporated areas.

Such facilities have not been allowed to open since the county
approved a temporary moratorium in April 2006. That moratorium lapses
April 10, the reason supervisors are rushing to pass a permanent
ordinance that bans land uses that violate state or federal law.

Using marijuana -- even for medical purposes -- is illegal under
federal law, according to a 2005 Supreme Court ruling. This conflicts
with a state law voters passed in 1996 -- Proposition 215 -- that
allows residents with certain medical conditions to use marijuana
with a doctor's recommendation.

The county would make one notable exception with the ordinance.
M.E.D.'s Dispensary in El Sobrante -- the only legal medical marijuana

business in the unincorporated county -- would be allowed to remain
open since it applied for a land-use permit before the 2006
moratorium. Bruno buys his medical marijuana at the El Sobrante
dispensary, but said he's concerned there will never be a cannabis
club closer to his Oakley home.

"To block dispensaries out of this county, it's a slap in the face to
the people who voted for the (1996) Compassionate Use Act," also
known as Prop. 215, he said.

The man who runs M.E.D.'s Dispensary, Buzz Fowler, said patients with
cancer and other diseases don't have enough places close to home to
acquire medical marijuana.

"The best thing for the patients is not to have to drive a 60- to
80-mile round trip to get to me," he said. "How stupid do I sound to
say, 'Go ahead and break up my monopoly and build two new
facilities?' The county wants to keep people from selling it on the
street, but they don't allow places for people to buy it legally."

There are other ways that seriously and terminally ill residents can
use medical marijuana legally, said Supervisor Mary Piepho of Discovery Bay.

For example, Prop. 215 allows those with a doctor's recommendation to
cultivate their own marijuana plants for medical purposes.

"The community impacts of a dispensary are intense," Piepho said,
citing litter, crime and smells from a dispensary. "And the cities
still have the discretion to decide how they want to regulate dispensaries."

Too often people with questionable medical ailments use dispensaries
as a means to buy marijuana and then sell it on the street, said
District Attorney Robert Kochly.

He doesn't keep statistics on how often that happens, but anecdotally
Kochly could think of three incidents in the past two years where
high school or college students in Concord, El Cerrito and Moraga
were selling marijuana they obtained at dispensaries.

"In California, we basically have legitimized the drug trade," he
said. "I don't think there is any way to properly regulate dispensaries."

Still, that doesn't mean Contra Costa residents will be without
medical marijuana, he said. The El Sobrante dispensary remains open
and there are others in Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco.

"In the Bay Area, other jurisdictions are always going to allow these
businesses," Kochly said. "Our residents will have a place to go."

[sidebars]

MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWS

A look at how some East Bay cities have opted to regulate medical
marijuana dispensaries:

Regulates medical marijuana dispensaries: Berkeley, Oakland

Bans uses that violate federal or state law: Hercules, Lafayette

Ban: Concord, Dublin, Livermore, Pinole, Pleasant Hill, Pleasanton, San Pablo

IF YOU GO

Contra Costa supervisors are scheduled to discuss the ban on medical
marijuana dispensaries at 11 a.m. Tuesday. The meeting will take
place at the supervisors' chambers at 651 Pine St. in Martinez.