PLAN WOULD SCATTER AREA'S MARIJUANA CLINICS

County Proposal Also More Closely Regulates Medical Pot
Operations

Coming soon -- maybe -- to a community near you: medical marijuana
clinics.

After four months of study, Alameda County this week unveiled a plan
to spread marijuana dispensaries throughout unincorporated areas and
to tightly regulate their operations.

The proposed ordinance would eliminate at least two of the seven
existing medical marijuana clubs, clustered in Ashland and Cherryland,
that have remained open since October, when county supervisors slapped
a temporary ban on new clubs in unincorporated areas.

The moratorium, already extended once, expires Monday. Supervisors
will meet Monday to extend it once again -- perhaps through the end of
the year -- while the new proposal is reviewed.

County leaders and local residents were split over the changes, while
the owner of one marijuana-sales outlet saw pros and cons.

"I'm glad the county came up with the ordinance, so we can try to put
this behind us," said Tony Cassini, partner at We Are Hemp dispensary
in Cherryland. "I agree with being spread out because being close
doesn't benefit any of us. But I worry about the patients, everywhere
around us, and how something like this will affect people who have to
walk (to buy their marijuana)."

The county ordinance would limit marijuana sales to five locations,
where individuals or organizations selling cannabis would compete for
avail-able permits. Ashland, Castro Valley, Cherryland and San Lorenzo
each would have one sales site.

The last locale would be somewhere in a lineal slice of Foothill
Boulevard, traveling north to south, and encompassing Hillcrest
Knolls, Fairmont, Fairmont Terrace, El Portal Ridge, and slivers of
Ashland and Castro Valley.

A permit for each location would be issued for two years, with the
county sheriff's department taking the lead in investigating
applicants, regulating ongoing operations and issuing permit renewals.

While current club operators would get first crack at staying in
business, possibly at a different location, none would be guaranteed
one of the permits.

"When it comes to medical marijuana dispensaries, this is a good
approach to regulating them," said county Supervisor Nate Miley, whose
fourth supervisorial district cuts through several unincorporated
communities.

He pledged that the quality of life in each community would not suffer
with the addition of such a business, adding that people who use
marijuana as medicine need to be able to buy it near where they live.

The ordinance limits dispensaries to business or commercial districts.
Dispensaries also must be at least 1,000 feet away from each other and
600 feet away from schools, parks or playgrounds.

Five clinics are too many for the unincorporated area, which spans 10
large and small communities in the vicinity of Hayward, Kathie Ready
of San Lorenzo said. She questioned whether clinics adequately check
the identities or prescriptions of people who want to buy marijuana.

"I voted for Proposition 215 (which allows medical marijuana sales
with doctors' orders) for people who are ill, not people who see an ad
in the newspapers for potdoc.com and get a prescription," she explained.

By comparison, Oakland has four marijuana sales outlets and Hayward
has two, although one is operating outside of city purview.

County Counsel Richard Winnie, who developed the ordinance along with
other county administrators, said dispensaries are spread along
geographical and population lines.

More than 130,000 people live in these unincorporated areas.

He also described the 20-page document as "comprehensive." It outlines
how applications would be reviewed, what information would have to be
provided by applicants, criteria on which permits would be issued or
rejected and operating rules.

If areas had more eligible applicants than permits available, a
drawing could be held. Clinics would not be allowed to grow marijuana
on the premises and would be limited to 20 pounds of marijuana on-site
at any one time. The proposed ordinance also sets out guidelines for
suspending or revoking permits.

Supervisors will meet at 1 p.m. Monday at the County Administration
Building, 1221 Oak St., fifth floor, Oakland, to extend the ban on new
medical marijuana clinics. The medical marijuana sales ordinance will
be discussed at 6:30 p.m. March 23 at the county's Unincorporated
Services Committee, 377 Paseo Grande, San Lorenzo.