UP IN SMOKE

In a unanimous vote Tuesday evening, the city council voted to bolt
the door to "1537 B Upstairs," where the Purple Elephant has dispensed
medical marijuana since last summer. Luke Coleman, who owns the
dispensary, was appealing a pair of 2008 decisions the city handed
down to revoke his license.

In a unanimous vote Tuesday evening, the city council voted to bolt
the door to "1537 B Upstairs," where the Purple Elephant has dispensed
medical marijuana since last summer.

Luke Coleman, who owns the dispensary, was appealing a pair of 2008
decisions the city handed down to revoke his license. These
pronouncements revolved around whether Coleman had honestly filled out
his business license application with the city.

West Alameda Business Association Executive Director Kathy Moehring
said, "The WABA board is not making a judgment about this type of
business, what we are reacting to is the deception we feel we have
endured. I think there was an admission of truth that allowed them to
come in under the radar."

Moehring admitted, "We are being NIMBYs, we don't want this in our
backyard, on our street. While I appreciate the tax revenue, I've
observed a lot." Moehring's observation is that the customers of the
Purple Elephant are "not participating in the businesses on the
street, they're not eating in our restaurants, they're not shopping in
our stores."

Coleman has worked as the Purple Elephant's "budtender" since the
dispensary opened last July 10 to no fanfare. He offers his clients
different strains of marijuana and hashish. According to the city
attorney's office, Coleman wrote on his application that the Purple
Elephant was a "miscellaneous retail" store and made no mention of
selling marijuana. The city also contends that Coleman's selling of
marijuana is illegal under federal law.

Phone lines at the Purple Elephant have been disconnected, and the Sun
was unable to contact him.

Edward Higginbotham, Coleman's attorney, contends that his client was
denied proper due process because the hearing officers -- then-Interim
Finance Director Ann Marie Gallant and then-City Manager Debra Kurita
- -- were city employees and could not render an impartial decision. When
Gallant and Kurita voted to revoke Coleman's license, he appealed.

"The adjudicator must be impartial," Higginbotham said, citing various
state Supreme Court decisions. "There is no way you can justify having
a paid employee come in and do the notice, prosecute the action and
then make the decision. From this point on, this goes to court."

Mayor Beverly Johnson, Gallant and Kurita presided over Coleman's
appeal and upheld the appeal.

After city staff received several other applications to open medical
marijuana dispensaries, the city council adopted, and then extended, a
moratorium on new dispensaries through June 30, 2010. The city is
currently studying the impact medical marijuana dispensaries would
have here. City staff is also working on a city ordinance to regulate
the dispensaries.

California voters made medical marijuana legal in 1996 with the
passage of Proposition 215. Despite this, Federal law still prohibits
the drug's use. In February, President Barack Obama's Attorney General
Eric Holder's said that the Justice Department will no longer raid any
medical marijuana clubs established under state law.