MEDICAL POT DEPOT BEGINNING TO FORM IN SAUSALITO

A one-stop pot complex is beginning to form on a Sausalito street as
city officials try to figure out how to address the businesses in the
business of medical marijuana distribution.

The city's moratorium on marijuana dispensaries was challenged by
Gate Five Caregivers, which opened in September 2008, but then closed
months later.

Last month the Caregiver Compassion Group opened at 495 Gate Five
Road, even though city officials said it was denied a permit.

On the front of the building an 8-by-11-inch signs read: "Medical
Cannabis Patients, Medicine Has Arrived (again.)"

Caregiver Compassion Group co-president Berta Bollinger acknowledged
she does not have city permits to operate, but she said she views
medical marijuana as a civil rights issue.

"It's just sick people who are trying to get their medicine," said
Bollinger, who called her business is a nonprofit operation. "We run
a tight ship here. People need to have their doctor's notes."

The facility has its own security, burglar alarms, security cameras
and night patrols.

City officials, however, said the business does not have the proper
permits to operate, and they are in the process of sending it a
letter asking it to come into compliance or face fines beginning at
$100 that get progressively steeper.

"They came in and inquired about a permit and were denied and then
they opened up anyway," said Jeremy Graves, the city's planning director.

Because a permit violation is a civil and not a criminal matter,
Sausalito police have little power to shut a business down unless
there is illegal activity occurring.

Despite the lack of permits, Bollinger said she has been well
received by law enforcement.

"They have been very respectful and wave and say 'hi.' Maybe they
heard we are not messing around. We want to be an asset in our
community," said Bollinger, who expects to eventually see between 500
and 750 patients a month.

Police Chief Scott Paulin said his department hasn't received
complaints about the Caregiver Compassion Group, but he has concerns
about medical marijuana dispensaries.

"The state law is rife with people who abuse it," he said.
"Compassionate use of marijuana was the intent of the law, but for
some it's a way to get recreational drugs more readily."

Two other businesses not associated with Caregiver Compassion Group
are also hoping to operate in the building.

The city did grant Canna Care Cafe a permit to run an office that
counsels people seeking medical marijuana, but operator Joe Tremolada
of San Rafael was denied a permit to grow and distribute the drug
based on the city's moratorium.

"I believe the current policy is in conflict with state law,"
Tremolada told the City Council last week. "I think that happened
because of an unclarity in state law as well."

Tremolada also says the denial is a violation of civil rights and
plans to keep pursuing the issue as he begins to get his business up
and running.

"I'm not going away," he said Friday.

A third medical marijuana-related business, American Growers Exchange
of Sonoma, is also interested in setting up shop at the Gate Five
Road building, according to city officials.

Steven Egri, who owns the building, said he doesn't see anything
wrong with them.

"It's legal, it's a state law, this is for medical purposes and I
don't see anything wrong with the concept," he said. "People should
be able to get medical marijuana in a safe way."

Proposition 215, approved in 1996 by 55.6 percent of California
voters - and 76 percent in Marin - made it legal for patients and
caregivers to possess and cultivate marijuana for medical treatment
as recommended by a doctor. The federal government, however, has
never recognized the legitimacy of the state law.

Last summer Attorney General Jerry Brown ordered a crackdown on
medical marijuana clubs that are generating big profits. Brown also
issued an 11-page directive outlining the rules such clubs must
observe to be legal: they must operate as nonprofit collectives or
cooperatives and pay sales tax, and they are prohibited from buying
marijuana from illegal commercial growers. They must obtain their
marijuana from patients or caregivers, who may grow no more than 12
immature or six mature plants.

In addition to the Sausalito dispensary, two medical marijuana
dispensaries opened this summer in Corte Madera and one opened
earlier this year in Novato. The Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana
in Fairfax has operated for the past 13 years.