SAN MATEO COUNTY TAKING APPLICATIONS FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA COOPERATIVES

Permit Process to Help County Gather Data

Jhonrico Carrnshimba stood outside a metal door in unincorporated
Redwood City on Wednesday, holding the 13-page application he needs
to fill out to get a license for his medical marijuana cooperative.

On the other side of the door is Universal Healthcare Cooperative
Corp., which has been distributing medical marijuana to patients
since Carrnshimba launched it in February.

San Mateo County officials want to know all about the operation --
the fees it charges, how it prevents members from sharing medical pot
with others, the amount of marijuana each member gets.

Those are among the 59 questions included in the county's pot club
licensing application, which officials released last week to anyone
interested in running a collective in unincorporated areas. In the
past year, three collectives have opened up in the North Fair Oaks
neighborhood, including Carrnshimba's.

"I think it's good they're actually completing it," he said of the
application, which has been in the works for months. "We've been
prepared for this."

It marks the county's first attempt to implement an ordinance passed
in April by supervisors with the aim of preventing illegal activity
while still allowing distribution of medical cannabis, legalized in
1996 by Proposition 215.

Applicants first must comply with the ordinance, which requires
collectives to be located at least 1,000 feet from schools and youth
centers, prohibits them from employing felons and requires them to
have an alarm system and bars on windows, among other provisions.

They then have to answer a series of questions about how the
collective operates, ranging from its tax status to the tabulation of expenses.

The ordinance also bans edible marijuana products, a restriction that
Carrnshimba and others had objected to. Carrnshimba has since removed
edibles from his cooperative, but he hopes to negotiate with the
county to bring them back.

A number of questions are intended to help the county licensing
board, which ultimately will approve or deny the applications, judge
whether an applicant is planning to run a true collective.

The county says a collective should operate as a "closed circuit" of
marijuana cultivation and consumption, with most members contributing
labor or other resources in addition to giving the collective cash
for the marijuana.

"Membership is key, because otherwise, if you are not a legitimate
member, then it's still illegal," said County Counsel Mike Murphy.
"This is probably the only type of enterprise that we license that,
on its face, would be illegal but for the status of the people that
are involved."

Carrnshimba says members of his collective, of which there is about
170 to 200, attend educational workshops and can volunteer to work at
the collective.

"It's not about (being) a store" for marijuana, he said. "It is more
so about the caring, the healing, the members' meetings, the group classes."

The county also wants to know the names and addresses of anyone who
cultivates, transports, prepares, packages or administers marijuana
for the collective, according to the application.

Representatives for two other collectives in the unincorporated
Redwood City area -- Blue Heaven and the California Patients
Cooperative -- were not available for comment last week.

While the county ordinance has been in effect since July 1, the
county plans to give the collectives until mid-September to submit
applications. After that, clubs that operate without a license could
be shut down.