GAY YOUTH CENTER SMOKED OUT

Pot Clubs Push Facility Out Of 'Oaksterdam'

As city officials move to regulate the burgeoning "Oaksterdam" district, a
center for gay and lesbian youth surrounded by medicinal pot clubs is
looking to get away from the smoke and safety risks, the group's leaders
said Monday.

The decision by the Sexual Minority Alliance of Alameda County to move out
of the Uptown neighborhood between City Hall and the 19th Street BART
station marks the latest twist in the struggle to define Oaksterdam.

"Our neighborhood is having growing pains -- the bottom line is that," said
Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative,
which federal agents shut down in 1998 but which the city has sanctioned to
issue ID cards for patients to use at nearby pot clubs.

The nonprofit youth alliance, which serves 1,300 clients, has closed its
offices in the 1700 block of Telegraph Avenue and is squeezed into a nearby
building while its leaders shop for a permanent location in another part of
the city.

Roosevelt Mosby Jr., the nonprofit group's executive director, cited such
nuisances as smoke, the recent robbery of a pot club, conflicts with one
club owner and people coming to the neighborhood to buy pot illegally.

The City Council is scheduled tonight to take up the issue of how to
regulate the neighborhood's dozen pot clubs and may make a final decision
next week, in what may prove to be a model for other cities that host
medicinal cannabis buyers' groups.

The council has asked the city attorney to look for ways to enforce
standards in the neighborhood, Councilwoman Nancy Nadel said.

Larry Carroll, administrative hearing officer for the Oakland city manager,
said the council might decide to regulate the clubs by issuing permits or
by creating a zoning area in which conditions would apply.

The deliberations come as complaints about smoking on the premises have
prompted the city to issue a warning letter to one business listed as a
cannabis dispensary, 420 Cafe.

Pot clubs are located on either side of the youth group's former building,

across the street and in other spots nearby.

"When drugs are in the area, everything else comes with it," Mosby said,
adding that marijuana could lead to more serious drug problems for young
people exposed to it.

Mosby said the organization was being "forced out" of the neighborhood.

"We need to move -- we want that very clear," said Crystal Weston, the
group's director of training and development.

The group is looking for financial backing to buy a former creamery at 25th
Street and San Pablo Avenue. The building was recently renovated into lofts
and is on the market for $1.3 million.

"If we don't get some real quick answers in a couple of days, I'm going to
Washington, D.C.," Mosby said.

The pot dispensaries, which are designed to help patients manage symptoms
that do not respond to other drugs, are condoned in principle by the city
and state under a 1996 voter initiative but are considered illegal by the
federal government.

The youth group's public criticism surprised operators of the pot clubs and
other merchants in the neighborhood.

The Uptown Merchants Association issued a statement saying its members and
others associated with the medical cannabis community had met with Mosby
last week and agreed to help the alliance raise money for a new facility.

The merchants said they continued to be open to proposals from the alliance.