POLICE WARN OF POT-CLUB DANGERS

PASADENA -- Pasadena police and planners want to prohibit medical marijuana
dispensaries, or "cannabis clubs,' from locating within the city, saying
such establishments breed crime and degrade neighborhoods.

They cite as evidence a report from Mark Siemens, police chief of the small
Northern California town of Rocklin. Siemens compiled a list of complaints
from four city police departments where pot clubs exist.

His report paints a picture of illicit drug dens that attract an
"underground culture' of street criminals, drug dealers and "dopers.'

A dispensary in Hayward sold hashish, the report states, and one in
Roseville let people smoke pot inside the facility. Residents of Upper Lake
complained "the people coming to Upper Lake for marijuana look like drug
users ('dopers'),' the report continues, and a shoe store in Oakland saw
its business drop when a club opened next door.

Based on these accounts, police and planners will ask the Pasadena City
Council tonight to implement a "temporary' ban on dispensaries, clubs and
cooperatives unless and until the state or federal governments sets tough
regulations for sales.

"Currently, the state has almost no controls on how (medical marijuana) is
dispensed, who can operate dispensaries, or where they can be located,'
city Planning Director Richard Bruckner said Thursday.

Janet Pope, spokeswoman for the Pasadena police, said the primary concern
is that marijuana will get into the wrong hands, though she acknowledged
authorities here are also wary about having to navigate conflicting state
and federal laws.

California voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996, giving doctors the right
to prescribe marijuana for certain chronic ailments. Five years later, the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled distribution of medical marijuana was illegal.

State lawmakers responded with legislation reasserting a patient's right to
use the drug by necessity, and this was followed by another Supreme Court
case, still pending, that will test whether the federal government can
prosecute patients with a prescription.

Councilman Paul Little said he would prefer the City Council wait until the
court rules before taking up the issue of a ban.

"Pending the resolution of that issue, I don't know whether it is something
we need to be spending any time on,' Little said.

The city's Planning Commission took up the ban earlier this year. It
decided to support the prohibition, but left open the possibility of
permitting dispensaries once regulatory issues have been settled.

"If it was going to turn out to be something similar to a pharmacy, we
definitely would want to take a second look at it,' Bruckner said.

The Pasadena Public Health Department weighed in, voicing support for the
ban while acknowledging marijuana is a "legitimate therapy for specific
disease conditions.'

"We recognize there are legitimate users and we don't want to limit their
access to care,' said Dr. Takashi Wada, the city's Public Health Officer.
"On the other hand, we acknowledge that there could be very serious
negative secondary consequences, which we found in speaking with other
jurisdictions throughout the state.'

Wada said he surveyed area hospitals, HIV clinics and hospice organizations
to see if there were patients who might be affected by a ban. "None of them
currently prescribe marijuana,' he said.

There are no medical marijuana dispensaries in the San Gabriel Valley.

Daniel Abrahamson, director of legal affairs for Drug Policy Alliance, a
group that supports medical marijuana, counseled the city against adopting
a ban.

"To ban dispensaries sends a strong message to anyone who wants to make a
quick buck in the black market,' Abrahamson said. "It is sort of a
dangerous, misguided approach to those who want to protect the public health.'

Abrahamson said there are well over 40 cannabis clubs in California and
roughly 100,000 medical marijuana users nationwide.

Eleven states had adopted medical marijuana laws since 1996.

Abrahamson said there is no clear trend in how California cities are
treating the dispensaries issue, though cities in Northern California,
particularly the Bay Area and near the Oregon border, are more accepting.

The city of Ontario, in the Inland Empire, adopted a moratorium on
marijuana dispensaries last week.