CANNABIS CLUBS FACE PERMIT DEADLINE

All six medical marijuana dispensaries operating in unincorporated Alameda
County are expected to apply for county permits by Tuesday's deadline --
but only one has filed an application so far.

Operators of the businesses in San Lorenzo and unincorporated Hayward and
San Leandro said they are taking their time to complete a lengthy
application in time for Tuesday's 4:30 p.m. deadline and are undeterred by
a fatal robbery at one of the dispensaries last week.

"We've been preparing for this for a while," said Jack Norton, owner of The
Health Center on East 14th Street in San Leandro. "This is a rigorous
process, but it's fair."

The applications and a $4,000 fee are to be filed with the Alameda County
Sheriff's Office under new dispensary regulations passed by county
supervisors in June.

"We've heard that all the existing dispensaries will probably apply," said
sheriff's Capt. Steve Roderick.

The applications will trigger a 30-day review period during which the
sheriff's office will perform background checks on the business operators,
while county health and planning officials will ensure the businesses meet
the letter of the law.

The law allows for three dispensaries to be granted county permits and
requires businesses that do not obtain a permit to shut down.

Following the leads of cities such as Berkeley and Oakland, Alameda County
became the first county in the state to pass its own dispensary law. The
county law is also the only one in the East Bay to explicitly allow
patients to use marijuana at the licensed sites, as long as patients use
vaporizers.

These devices heat the marijuana to temperatures just below the point of
combustion, releasing vapors containing the drug's active ingredients that
are inhaled just like smoke. Doctors recommend the vaporizers, asserting
the vapors don't carry harmful toxins carried in marijuana smoke.

The law will set up three districts within the county's jurisdiction --
Ashland/Cherryland, Castro Valley and San Lorenzo -- and will allow only
one licensed dispensary per district.

Roderick expressed concern over the Aug. 19 robbery at one of the
dispensaries, A Natural Source on Foothill Boulevard near Hayward.

"We believe that over time, they will become magnets for certain types of
criminal activity, either inside or outside these businesses," Roderick
said. "The people who frequent these places are not all critically ill
cancer patients."

Still, Roderick said the robbery, in which one of the alleged thieves was
shot to death by a dispensary worker, will not be used against the
businesses. Nor, he said, will a half-dozen other serious crimes that have
occurred around the six businesses in the past several weeks be used
against them during the review process.

"It isn't the fault of the operators that people decide to commit crimes,"
he said.

County officials said decisions on which businesses receive permits should
be made by early October.

Guy Ashley covers Oakland and Alameda County.