MEDICAL MARIJUANA ON TAP AT OREGON CAFE

A Legal Place to Socialize, Medicate

PORTLAND, Ore. -- At first glance, the Cannabis Cafe, in a former
adult club called Rumpspankers, looks like any other coffee shop.
Customers sip coffee while playing cards, working on computers or
sharing a meal.

It's also where people approved to use marijuana for medical purposes
can smoke joints and pipes, or use a vaporizer that collects
marijuana fumes for inhaling.

It's all legal, and for cancer patient Albert Santistevan, 56, it's
about time. "It's a very positive atmosphere. We could use more
places like that," the former jewelry shop owner says.

A few weeks ago, Santistevan would have had no public place to go.
But after the Obama administration's decision last month to soften
the federal stance on medical marijuana, the Cannabis Cafe and a
smaller lounge across town -- called Highway 420, a number pot users
have used as code for marijuana -- opened.

"It's nice to be around people who understand your medicine," says
Madeline Martinez, executive director of the Oregon chapter of
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), which
operates and monitors the cafe. "Many times we're deemed as criminals
rather than patients."

Fourteen states allow cannabis to be cultivated and used for medical
reasons, and Maine this month became the fifth to allow retail pot
dispensaries, joining California, Colorado, New Mexico and Rhode
Island, NORML says.

Only Oregon has a place where any medical marijuana cardholder can
socialize and use free, over-the-counter cannabis.

"It really is a revolutionary model in that the cannabis isn't being
bought and sold," says Russ Belville, national outreach coordinator for NORML.

No marijuana is sold in the cafe. Oregon law prohibits the sale of
marijuana, although it can be exchanged among medical marijuana
cardholders. Patients bring marijuana grown by themselves or by their
designated caregivers. They also donate marijuana for other patrons to use.

Portland police say they have not received any complaints about the
cafe, and it is not under any special scrutiny.

Jan Clutter, who lives near the cafe, said neighbors would probably
prefer the establishment be located elsewhere, but there has been no
push to have it moved.

"It's better than having a sex club, a strip joint or a bar full of
drunks open down the street," neighbor Claudia Nix says.

Oregon Anti-Crime Alliance President Kevin Mannix says he wishes
there had been more public discussion about the cafe before it opened.

"I'm not going to cast judgment on whether or not there should be a
cafe," Mannix says. "But I do think legislative policymakers need to
take a good, hard look at where we are headed."

To get a medical marijuana card, state law requires residents have a
doctor's statement certifying that they have a qualifying medical
condition, such as cancer, glaucoma or muscle spasms.

Jim Hickam, 58, a small-business owner from Independence, Ore., says
he got a medical marijuana card after a back injury left him
dependent on painkillers. He says he's now off prescription drugs and
able to work again.

"It's really a nice place to hang out. It's real mellow," says
Hickham, who attended the Cannabis Cafe opening Nov. 13.

The state says about 23,900 Oregonians hold medical marijuana cards.

Martinez says the group chose Portland for the pot lounge because the
city's mayor and police chief signed an executive order in 2007
prohibiting police from assisting with investigations or prosecutions
of people acting under the state's medical marijuana act. Federal law
still prohibits growing, possessing, distributing and smoking marijuana.

To enter the cafe, people must have a NORML membership and show their
state medical marijuana card, Martinez says. Patients pay a $5
coverage charge at the door that goes toward operating costs.