ACTION HELD ON CANNABIS CLUB PERMITS

Alameda County supervisors delayed passing a law to license medical
marijuana dispensaries, despite threats by the county sheriff that he will
move to shut down seven pot distribution points in the county without it.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday postponed any action on a proposed
dispensary law until at least June 7. That means the county will be bumping
right up against a June 17 deadline set by Sheriff Charles Plummer because
the law must survive two readings by the board before it takes effect.

Plummer said Tuesday he would extend his deadline -- as long as he sees
movement by the county to adopt a law.

"Four days is no big deal," he said. "As long as they're committed to
getting this done."

County Supervisor Nate Miley asked for a two-week delay to give his
colleagues more time to develop provisions of the proposed law, including
the criteria that will be used to decide which operations get a county license.

Currently, Alameda County is one of about 35 local jurisdictions in
California that have banned new dispensaries while they work on local
ordinances to regulate the operations.

Alameda County passed its moratorium last October, and has since extended
it twice, after six clubs moved into the unincorporated Ashland and
Cherryland areas. The clubs shifted to county land in the wake of a 2004
licensing law in Oakland that reduced the number of dispensaries allowed in
that city from 12 to four.

Local governments around the state are scrambling to adopt regulations to
oversee the distribution of marijuana to people who are entitled to it
under state Proposition 215, which made marijuana legal to grow and possess
for medical needs.

Alameda County has debated its own law for about a year, and its failure to
enact an ordinance has frustrated Plummer, who feels his deputies must
shoulder most of the responsibility for overseeing operations that have few
limits on their activities.

In an April 18 letter to County Administrator Susan Muranishi, Plummer
threatened to invoke federal law prohibiting marijuana and order a
shut-down of the seven dispensaries in county jurisdiction if a local law
was not passed in 60 days.

In the meantime, Plummer has been a hearty supporter of a novel proposal to
distribute medical pot out of county-owned Fairmont Hospital in San
Leandro. That proposal is still being studied by the county's legal staff,
and probably won't move forward until the U.S. Supreme Court decides a
pending case that could define more clearly how far authorities can go in
enforcing federal laws banning marijuana.

The decision to hold off on a county dispensary law disappointed many who
attended an exhausting 4-hour hearing Tuesday in which critics chided
county supervisors for moving to cap the number of dispensaries.

While a draft of the law suggests only five dispensaries be allowed in
unincorporated areas, two supervisors moved to lower the number to three.

Kris Hermes, legal support coordinator for Americans for Safe Access, a
medical marijuana advocacy group, said the limits being discussed are
arbitrary, and not based on any examination of patient need. He said the
limits would worsen loitering and other problems that have been associated
with the seven dispensaries now operating in unincorporated areas between
Hayward, San Leandro and Castro Valley.

"There are lines outside the dispensary facilities that create problems,"
Hermes said. "You're inviting that type of problem by arbitrarily capping
the number of dispensaries."

Other critics said the proposal would force the shut-down of three
dispensaries doing business on East 14th Street near San Leandro, because
all three are within 1,000 feet of a nearby middle school. The proposed law
sets a 1,000-foot buffer zone around all schools.