MEDICAL POT DEBATE HEATS UP IN TRACY

TRACY - An illegal drug, a helpful medicine or just a nuisance - the
issue of where or even should medical marijuana dispensaries exist
has fallen squarely into the laps of area city leaders in recent years.

Though county prosecutors deem any marijuana use illegal, perhaps
nowhere in San Joaquin County is the issue burning as hot as it is in
Tracy, where one pot-selling business is fighting a city order to shut down.

Local medical marijuana users, some with end-stage ailments that they
say make traveling painful, decry the potential loss of the Valley
Wellness Center Collective at 130 W. 11th St.

The club's attorney argues the business has a constitutional right to
stay open says the city has a place in its municipal code allowing
the club to sell its buds, marijuana-laced edibles and tinctures.

City officials, however, maintain the club, the second to open this
year, is not allowed because the city's zoning laws do not
specifically set out rules for the retail sale of marijuana. It's a
zoning grey area; a way a city can keep out an undesired business
without having to come out publicly and ban it.

But an arbiter's ruling, expected any time, on whether the club
violates those zoning laws could push city leaders to take a public
stand on marijuana clubs in Tracy.

"I think at some point in time we're going to realize we have to deal
with it in some type of policy manner. I don't think we have yet,"
said Mayor Brent Ives, who added that he does not want marijuana
dispensaries in Tracy.

Freshman City Councilman Steve Abercrombie, a retired Hayward police
officer, finds himself in a difficult position in the medical
marijuana debate: While he backs allowing patients access to drugs
that ease their pain, he's also preaches the ills of drug abuse to
fifth-graders as the Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer in Tracy schools.

"It's a real Catch-22. If you come out against it, then people think
you're inhumane and trying to punish people who have cancer and use
it to ease their suffering," Abercrombie said. "If you don't come out
against it, then people think you are trying to legalize drugs. It's
not an easy decision, but it's something we really need to discuss."

If Tracy officials are forced into the debate, they won't have to
look far to find cities with similar issues.

The cities of Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore have either banned
dispensaries or placed moratoriums on their operation. The tiny town
of Ripon, however, has set up a permitting system for the businesses.

Lodi does not have any measures expressly addressing medical
marijuana from a zoning perspective or otherwise, City Attorney Steve
Schwabauer sad. The only thing preventing a club from opening is the
potential for prosecution from the San Joaquin County District
Attorney's Office, according to Schwabauer.

"The DA's position is that you don't need (an ordinance). It's
illegal under federal law, and federal trumps state law," Schwabauer said.

Stockton does not list medical marijuana dispensaries as an
authorized use in its development code, which effectively outlaws
them, according to city spokeswoman Connie Cochran. That's similar to
the way Tracy's code addresses pot clubs, and Stockton city leaders
could find themselves in the same situation as their counterparts in
Tracy if a club were to open up.

After extending moratoriums on dispensaries in 2005, the Dublin City
Council unanimously approved an ordinance banning them in June 2006.

"The council felt there were adequate facilities in close proximity
to our community," Dublin City Manager Richard Ambrose said.

Dispensaries in Hayward are about 15 miles from Dublin, and
unincorporated areas around Dublin are home to other clubs.

Livermore followed suit, enacting a two-year moratorium in 2005,
giving city leaders time to grapple with a way to handle medical
marijuana dispensaries under the city code while addressing the
disparity between federal and state laws on medical marijuana use.
State law allows patients access to medical marijuana, yet federal
law outlaws all use of marijuana, medical or otherwise.

"On top of that, we're concerned for the potential of secondary
effects of having a dispensary located in a neighborhood," Livermore
City Attorney John Pomidor said.

The moratorium ends in September. However, a proposed ban on
dispensaries has been subjected to several public hearings, and the
Livermore City Council likely will take up discussion on a ban within
the next two months, Pomidor said.

Closer to home, Manteca officials are also working on a ban, Police
Chief Charlie Halford said.

Ripon's ordinance, passed in 2005, requires dispensary operators to
submit to background checks, and regulates where they can operate.
Dispensaries, which must be nonprofit facilities, can have on hand no
more than 8 ounces of marijuana and maintain no more than 12 plants.

The city has no dispensaries yet, "which is perfectly fine with me,"
Ripon Police Chief Richard Bull said.

Ripon also has an ordinance regulating private gardens of medical marijuana.

In Tracy, the Valley Wellness Center Collective is prepared for a
long fight. The club's attorney, James Anthony, is willing to take
the matter to Superior Court if his appeal fails.

Meanwhile, the club is installing a carbon air filtration system to
minimize the odor from its stock of marijuana, which has drawn
complaints from neighboring businesses. The club has also affixed its
logos - which bear a caduceus, the symbol of the medical profession -
to its wicker-covered front windows.

Even Anthony believes it may be time for Tracy to formally address
what to do with marijuana dispensaries.

"If they're concerned about it, they should bring it up for public
hearing," Anthony said.