MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISTRIBUTORS MULTIPLY AS SAN JOSE WEIGHS ORDINANCE

Inside an unremarkable three-story office building near Santana Row,
Richard Noonan waited last week in the San Jose Cannabis Buyers
Collective lobby for the marijuana he uses to treat symptoms of palsy.

Not long ago, getting the drug required a trek to San Francisco. But
now, the Campbell resident can choose from multiple storefront
providers in San Jose.

"It seems there's a lot more openness toward this," Noonan said.

Indeed, when Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio last month proposed the
city regulate and tax pot clubs, the San Jose Cannabis Buyers
Collective -- which opened four months ago -- was the only dispensary
city officials knew of. Now there are at least two others, plus a
couple operations offering delivery service. And others are looking
to enter the market.

Suddenly, it seems as if medicinal marijuana dispensaries are
sprouting everywhere, boosted by the Obama administration's decision
to stop cracking down on medical pot in states that have legalized
it. City leaders around California are scrambling.

Gilroy, Santa Clara, Los Gatos and Danville have rushed to enact
bans, while liberal havens such as Santa Cruz, long friendly toward
medical marijuana, have moved to limit dispensaries.

Many see San Jose's move to consider regulating a limited number of
medical marijuana dispensaries as a welcome mat, and they're rushing
to get a foot in the door.

"We just feel it's the right time to look into this," said Tom Adler,
a San Jose resident who says he uses marijuana to treat symptoms of
diabetes treatment. He now wants to open his own dispensary.

Although San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and City Attorney Rick Doyle made
clear last week ?they don't believe medical marijuana dispensaries
are allowed under current city law, the city hasn't yet tried to shut
those now in operation, as nearby Santa Clara and Gilroy are doing.

"It's one city where there's no ban or moratorium," Adler said. "A
lot of people are trying to scramble to stake their claim, so to
speak, and I'm one of them."

It's been 13 years since voters made California the first state in
the nation to legalize medical use of marijuana. More than a dozen
states now have such laws. But suppliers long have been stymied by
federal authorities who have maintained that marijuana is a narcotic
with no legitimate medical purpose.

San Jose in 1998 approved a zoning ordinance to accommodate medical
marijuana dispensaries. But the director of the former Santa Clara
County Medical Cannabis Center was prosecuted in the late 1990s after
city police alleged it sold marijuana to people without a doctor's
recommendation.

San Jose dropped the medicinal marijuana provision when the city
updated its zoning laws in 2002, and since then, local residents with
doctors' recommendations for the drug have largely been left to rely
on providers in San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland and Santa Cruz.

Then things changed this year. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder
indicated in March that federal authorities would target medical
marijuana distributors only where they violate both state and federal
laws, and last month, he issued a sweeping directive to that effect.

Although cities and counties still maintain the right to restrict
medicinal marijuana dispensaries just as they do liquor stores, card
clubs and adult theaters, the operations have multiplied statewide
this year -- often in defiance of local officials.

Los Angeles, which two years ago adopted a moratorium limiting the
number of medical marijuana dispensaries to 186, has seen hundreds
open since. Estimates say as many as 1,000 operate in the city --
some advertising with billboards and neon signs. Prosecutors now are
moving to shut down dispensaries, arguing that state law does not
allow the drug to be sold, only distributed at cost.

Oliverio proposed that San Jose adopt regulations based on those in
other cities that would allow an as-yet unspecified number of
medicinal marijuana dispensaries to operate in industrial areas of
the city. Dispensaries would pay a $10,000 permit fee and a 3 percent
special tax, with proceeds going toward police and road maintenance.
And the drug could not be used on-site; none of the three currently
operating allow on-site use.

Local dispensary operators say they support the proposal. As for the
possibility of being shut down by authorities in the meantime, Kit
Tran, who operates the nonprofit South Bay Apothecary Collective in a
North San Jose technology park, said he's hired a lawyer.

"We understand the risks," Tran said, "I think we're OK."

The mayor's office noted that city code enforcement is generally
driven by complaints.

Donna Brodersen, a restaurant owner who lives across from the South
Bay Cannabis Buyers Collective on Monroe Street, said she was unaware
it was there but doesn't mind having it as a neighbor. "It's fine
with me," she said.

It could be months before San Jose decides on any ordinance. City
officials are expected to report back to a council committee in
January on what steps would be involved in preparing something for
the council to consider.

Oliverio urged quick action. "Whether we do anything or not," he
said, "they will come."