CITY TO ADDRESS MEDICAL MARIJUANA SHOPS

Regardless of what action it took last night Woodland's City Council
will soon have to decide how to deal with medical marijuana
dispensaries.

The issue is already becoming more prevalent in surrounding Northern
California communities. Acting just last week, for example, the city
of Dixon voted against any dispensaries whatsoever. Other cities,
notably San Francisco, have permitted so-called "Cannabis clubs" for
those with medical needs.

On Tuesday night, the council was to consider a temporary urgency
ordinance preventing the establishment and operation of medical
marijuana dispensaries. Results were unavailable by deadline.

However, the moratorium, if passed, lasts 45 days, but can be extended
to ten months and 15 days, or as long as a year.

City staff will being to look at ways to regulate and manage
distribution of medical marijuana and the city policy regarding
dispensaries and bring a recommendation to the council. The moratorium
on marijuana dispensaries buys staff time to prepare a formal
recommendation.

The urgency was triggered by a business license application from Flash
Gordon of Fairfield, who is seeking to open just such a business in
Woodland.

"I have several friends who benefit from the use of medical marijuana
where as other drugs, like Oxycontin, didn't provide relief," Gordon
told The Democrat Tuesday.

He sees a need for this kind of service in Yolo County.

The application was promptly denied after it was submitted Aug. 21,
over zoning issues.

Thomas Wendt, a health care professional, herbalist and owner of Amana
Essentials, said "I periodically have patients asking for where to go
for medical marijuana. I don't treat cancer, but I do have cancer patients."

People also go to Wendt to get treatment for the side effects of
chemotherapy.

"I have no idea where to send them. I have no information for them,"
Wendt said.

In an e-mail response from Woodland Health Care, the president of the
Medical Group, Dr. Carol Kimball said, "It is against Woodland Clinic
Medical Group policy to prescribe marijuana."

Woodland resident, Bobby Harris, helped local governments in Humboldt
County regulate medical marijuana access and dispensaries. Harris, who
ran for the council in 2008, uses medical marijuana for his Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder and alcoholism. He was arrested in 1990 for
cultivation. The case was dismissed in 2008.

"I'm honest about it because people should understand," he
said.

Harris doesn't think store front dispensaries are the answer. He wants
to see safe, secure, and affordable ways for patients to access
cannabis. He said a store front would drive up costs.

Harris thinks an important part of Proposition 215, the California law
decriminalizing medical marijuana, is that it's meant to be
affordable. He said Woodland should define affordable and put a price
cap on medical cannabis.

Harris said he wants to see a means of outreach and distribution, in
the form of a nonprofit collective.

The city's staff report cited studies showing an increase in crime
around areas of medical marijuana dispensaries. The staff report also
said some cities faced legal challenges in preventing the
establishment and operation of dispensaries, but as of yet none have
been struck down by a court.