HOW TRI-VALLEY CITIES KEEP CANNABIS CLUBS CANNED

Area Has Many Who Rely on Drug

Five years ago, Michelle London would burn marijuana into a butter
and spread it on toast for her mother, dying of lung cancer. "She
couldn't smoke it anymore," she recalled. "We put it on wheat toast.
It worked. It was really a shock. It prolonged my mom's life." Today,
London, 34, of Livermore, deals with diabetes, which has extended
into gastroparesis, or nerve damage in her stomach. "My food stays in
there for days and it ferments," she said. "I vomit a lot and get
sick. ... People think I'm healthy or they think I'm a drug addict or
a prankster or something."

London is one of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Tri-Valley residents
who rely on cannabis to relieve their physical and psychological
ailments. Their backgrounds are diverse, they suffer for a variety of
reasons and many are reluctant to take addictive prescription drugs.
And while they take to the freeway to obtain their medicine, they
acknowledge a sharp contrast between the Tri-Valley and the larger
cities: the conundrum of providing an illegal drug through dispensaries.

"For me, I'm younger, so the only burden is the additional wear and
tear on the car and the time involved while driving," lifelong
Livermore resident George Wilson said. "I've been fighting like hell
for something (to open here). There's got to be a system where
everyone is happy."

In the Valley, the latest battle is in Tracy, where the city's lone
dispensary, the Valley Wellness Center, is fighting to stay open.
City officials insist it doesn't comply with business code standards.
An arbitration hearing took place Thursday and a decision is expected
in the coming weeks.

"The nearest place you have to go is Oakland, possibly Hayward," said
attorney James Anthony, the dispensary's defender. "Going south,
you're talking about Bakersfield. Going north, Sacramento." Tracy
resident Carl Hassell, who was at Thursday's hearing, listed about a
half-dozen physical ailments he endures, including chronic arthritis.
"I used to drive to Hayward in excruciating pain," he said. "The day
I found out there was a dispensary in Tracy was the same day they
were ordered to close, and I cried. I don't wish anyone in the world
the type of pain I live with. And I'm 49 years old." Tracy is only
the latest to just say no. Dublin has banned dispensaries. Last year,
Pleasanton and Livermore extended moratoriums. And Manteca has
indicated they are working on an ordinance to ban pot dispensaries.
City officials in the Tri-Valley cite two main concerns they
associate with dispensaries: They draw crime and they violate federal law.

However, advocates point to Oakland's four dispensaries as a
successful system, borne out of Proposition 215, which legalized
medicinal marijuana in 1996. Oakland passed regulations in 2004,
which structured strict operation guidelines.

"I meet with them about once a quarter to talk about any problems,"
said Barbara Killey, a city administrative hearing officer. "In
reality, I don't really hear of any problems. There are never any
complaints. I think police departments that cite negative activity in
Oakland are responding to incidents that happened prior to the 2004 ordinance."

However, dispensary opponents don't have to look that far. Last month
in Hayward, the DEA raided a dispensary, discovering about 30 pounds
of pot and $200,000 in cash.

"That was one touted as being a successful operation," Livermore
Mayor Marhsall Kamena said. "And yet when the DEA raided them, the
quantity of money they found made it clear that they weren't working
within the boundaries the city established."

Scott Smith, a patient from Manteca, said the raid in Hayward
demonstrated that regulations worked.

"That's why you need a certain kind of accountability," he said. "If
you break the rules, you are not a viable part of the community."
Dispensaries also require a considerable amount of city resources,
something the suburbs would rather not undertake.

"They were the first in making medical marijuana dispensaries
available to the public," Pleasanton Mayor Jennifer Hosterman said.
"Because of that, we've had an opportunity to watch their programs,
watch their successes and failures. While everyone recognizes that we
need to make it available to those who are sick, the reality is that
dispensaries have had problems."

Some of those problems include teenagers acquiring it, Hosterman
said. "For us, it's a balancing act of the needs of the community
with the safety of the community," she said. "Besides, the police did
identify (the) rather easy availability of medical marijuana in the
Tri-Valley. Your caregiver can get it for you. All you need is a
letter from your doctor."

Tri-Valley residents can find it difficult to locate a suitable
dispensary, London said. Her friend, Andrew Glazier of Livermore,
maintains a blog called "Grow Love," featuring dispensary
information. "In the city, people are forced into negotiating with a
different political landscape," Glazier said. "Those hills are not
just a geographical divide, they are a psychological divide. So
there's no real urge to create a club here. For me, it's the traffic
backup. I'm sick of sitting on (Interstate) 580."

Last month, advocates celebrated a small victory when Livermore
balked at adopting a permanent ordinance. With its moratorium still
intact, the City Council instead requested more information on
successful operations in Oakland and other cities.

"All of the information that was presented to us by the staff was
negative," Councilwoman Marj Leider said. "I hope they investigate
whether there is anything positive."

Leider and Councilman Tom Reitter have indicated they would support a
dispensary if they had no doubts of their safety.

"There are people who need medical marijuana, especially those who
are on chemotherapy," Leider said. "I know people who have used it
while on chemotherapy and don't use it anymore. They did not become
addicted." Kamena opposes a dispensary in Livermore, saying he has to
consider "the community standards."

"If Livermore continues with its ban, it's continuing the status
quo," Kamena said. "We aren't taking medicine away from anybody."
Meanwhile, local patients describe themselves as regular people,
concerned about the future of access. Glazier lives with a severe
back injury he sustained while working in construction. "My back is
stiff. I go to bed. If I roll over in the middle of the night, which
every human being does, I wake up and I can't go back to sleep," he
said. "It'll drive you crazy. If I go to a doctor, they might
prescribe Vicodin or some heavy drug like that. In other words,
they'll give me opiates. Anything that is an analog of an opiate is addictive."

William Dolphin, spokesman for American for Safe Access in Oakland,
offered a different take of why big cities are more receptive to
dispensaries than the Tri-Valley.

"Places like San Francisco, Santa Cruz, even Santa Rosa and Oakland,
have had more direct experience - put it more simply, because of
AIDS," he said. "There was no question that that was a serious
medical emergency that needed to be dealt with. With the suburbs,
it's a slightly different situation with different people. However,
cancer is something that affects most families across the country. As
more people become aware of who medical marijuana patients are,
attitudes within communities will change."