HOPE FOR POT DISPENSARIES EVAPORATING

Modesto Location Set to Close on July 14

Possible locations for a medical marijuana dispensary are ebbing with
a wave of moratoriums moving across Stanislaus County.

That leaves patients wondering if they will have anyplace within an
hour's drive to access a safe supply when Modesto's only dispensary
closes. A ban passed in December by the City Council means the
California Healthcare Collective on McHenry Avenue must close by July
14.

"For me, it will be devastating," said Ceres' Barbara Quast, 58, who
said she relies on marijuana to ease pain from a spinal injury and
other ailments. "I'm sure I'm not the only one."

Following Modesto's lead, Turlock imposed a 45-day moratorium in
January. On Feb. 14, the City Council extended the moratorium for an
additional 10months and 15 days to study the options. That night,
Newman imposed a 45-day moratorium; Riverbank's City Council is
scheduled to consider the same thing Monday.

Police chiefs in Oakdale and Patterson are working on recommendations,
and Waterford's police chief broached the issue with the City Council
on Thursday night.

"Overall, I think it will be a problem for the community if one were
to come here," Waterford Police Chief Jim Silva said Friday. "The
community is trying to rebuild its downtown, but I don't think this is
what the town of Waterford has in mind for what they want to be known
for."

Monday, Riverbank Police Chief Art Voortman gave the City Council a
list of problems that law enforcement has said are associated with
dispensaries elsewhere in the state that range from illicit drug
dealing to robberies and people driving under the influence after leaving.

Loitering Complaints

Neighbors around the California Healthcare Collective on McHenry
Avenue, according to police, have complained about loitering. The city
hasn't kept track of the level of traffic in and out of the building,
but Waterford's Silva said he is concerned about the large number of
people he said a dispensary would draw and the conflict with federal
drug laws.

While Proposition 215, passed by California voters in 1996, allows
people with a doctor's recommendation and their caregivers to possess,
use and grow marijuana, federal law does not.

Turlock City Clerk Rhonda Greenlee said the council hopes for a
resolution between state and federal laws by the time its ban runs
out.

It still will be in place in July, when Modesto's dispensary must
close.

"The only place I will have left to go is Oakland, and that makes it
even harder," Quast said. "It's hard to get over to Oakland, and you
have to get some money together to get a larger amount to last, and
that's a hardship."

She can't drive that far and would have to rely on rides, she said.
Unlike other medication, someone else can't pick it up for her.

The former bartender lives on $832 a month in Social Security and
disability payments. An accident lifting cases in 2000 left her
permanently disabled, and she said she finds marijuana easier to
handle than other pain medications for the injury, migraines, ringing
in her ears, mouth pain and nausea. She makes one trip a month to the
McHenry collective, where she pays $100 for a quarter-ounce of marijuana.

"I call them minivacations from pain," she said. "I have so many
things wrong in my body right now, and most of them are
learn-to-live-with-it pain. I've got something going on all of the
time."

'People Just Don't Understand'

Her family, including her four children and their children, know about
her use of marijuana, and understand that it is different from
recreational use, she said. That's something people voting for
moratoriums and bans don't understand, she said. "They don't want to
consider it because they say 'that will lead to bad, that will lead to
heroin,'" she said. "Remember when AIDS landed on the scene and
everyone had these wrong ideas? This is the same thing."

The moratoriums don't affect people who grow their own marijuana, but
that is not always feasible for patients, said Nathan Sands, board
chairman of the Compassionate Coalition.

"If you are diagnosed with cancer and you are going to start
chemotherapy right away, by the time you are ready to harvest the
plants, you might be done with chemotherapy or dead - and that is if
you are a very good gardener," he said, adding that it is difficult to
grow good-quality marijuana without pesticides and fertilizers that
can be harmful to people in compromised health.

The Sacramento-based advocacy group opposes bans, but favors what
Sands described as "reasonable regulations" such as zoning ordinances
laying out where dispensaries can operate and operating restrictions.
Ripon has one such zoning ordinance.

That's the route Silva said he is most likely to recommend to the
Waterford City Council because it would avoid a lawsuit.

Outright bans like Modesto's are being challenged in court, although
Modesto Risk Manager Mary Akin said she does not believe the city has
received a claim or lawsuit related to its ban.

With no dispensaries on the horizon, Hughson and Ceres are not
considering any ordinances, according to city officials.

In local communities, "the concerns we have heard are valid," Sands
said. "But they are all addressable and can be handled with
regulation. There is no reason we can't resolve the issues, but some
communities are just not willing to."