RAINIER FAMILY OPENS POT DISPENSARY

RAINIER - Lawanda Kissell suffers from fibromyalgia and rheumatoid
arthritis. Not wanting to take strong painkillers, the Rainier
resident said she turned to medical marijuana a year ago for relief.

Until Friday, the nearest medical marijuana dispensary for Kissell
and Columbia County's 650 Oregon Medical Marijuana Program card
carriers was in Portland. Now, they have to travel no farther than
downtown Rainier.

"It's much nicer not having to go all the way to Portland," said Kissell, 31.

Staypuff Organics, a medical marijuana dispensary, opened Friday at
113 E. First St. - somewhat to the chagrin of city leaders who could
find no way to block it.

The family owned business offers various strains of marijuana in
dried form, live plants and edibles (such as cookies and chocolates),
lotions and oils. It also carries potting soil and other products for
grow operations. It's the first medical marijuana dispensary in
Columbia County and the only one in the lower Columbia region.

The owners - Ron Neveau, 45, Lori Neveau, 49 and their son, Ryan
Neveau, 23, all of Rainier - say their primary goal is client safety.

"Buying on the street is not OK," said Ron Neveau, who has used
medical marijuana for about six years. "I never had good friends that
grew the stuff, so I always had to deal with somebody who knew somebody."

All three of the Neveaus are card-carrying

OMMP members and users: Ron for a congenital back disorder and
injuries from a 1992 logging truck accident; Lori for a debilitating
1995 injury to her legs; Ryan for osteoarthritis in his knees from
football injuries.

To obtain their medical marijuana, they were going to Aloha and Salem
dispensaries owned by Jenifer Valley and Michael Mullins of Stoney
Girl Gardens, though Ron also was a grower. While at the
dispensaries, they saw several people they recognized from Rainier.

"We talked to a lot of people, so we already knew there was a big
need here," Lori Neveau said.

For $5,000, they enlisted the consulting services of Valley and
Mullins, owners of several other OMMP-related businesses and
dispensaries. The Southeast Portland pair made a presentation at the
March 21 Rainier City Council meeting seeking to reassure authorities
that Staypuff will be a legitimate business.

"This is not a young crowd looking for a party, " Mullins said
Friday. "It's baby boomers, the blue collar community who need access
without being thrown out there in the illegal world."

City Councilman David Langford expressed concern at the March 21 meeting.

"There is an inherent danger having anything to do with drugs that
can be a menace to our community," he said then. "I will take a look
at it with an open mind, but being a drug-free community is more
important than anything else."

Friday, Langford said he still doesn't agree with medical marijuana,
but he acknowledged that "they did put forth a good argument, so I'm
going to be optimistic."

Mayor Jerry Cole said Thursday that he, too, was being "cautiously
optimistic" about Staypuff Organics' opening.

"I'm not against medical marijuana, but just as anyone else, you
don't like to see that stuff open in your town," he said. "I have
hopes that it will be fine, and you won't even know it's there."

Staypuff opened at noon with about 25 clients waiting at the door,
Lori Neveau said. People trickled in for the next six hours.

Customers must carry OMMP cards, which are available only from
doctors or osteopaths. The lowest-cost marijuana available Friday was
$8 a gram, and the Neveaus say they are selling the product at a
price just to cover costs. They'll turn profits off $20-a-month
memberships, which will be revoked if they suspect clients are
reselling to non-card carriers.

Friday, Lori Neveau carefully checked each client's OMMP card, photo
ID and made copies of them. Clients had to fill out registration and
consent forms including the names of their growers and caregivers.

One by one, they were led through a coded, locked door to the back
room to make purchases. There are four security cameras. No marijuana
can be smoked, ingested or otherwise used at Staypuff, nor are there
any growing gardens there. The marijuana plants, products and client
records are removed from the premises every day to an undisclosed
location, Ron Neveau said.

Neighboring business owners, like Derek Cowan of More Power
Computers, seem to be unbothered by Staypuff's opening.

"Some of these people have to go someplace; at least it's some place
secure," he said. "I'd rather see them get it safely than having to
go out on the streets and maybe getting bad stuff."