FREMONT NIPS POT SHOPS IN THE BUD

Cannabis Clinics Look for New Place to Call Home, 45-Day Moratorium By
City Council Will Help Keep Them Out of Fremont

FREMONT -- As several East Bay cities move to shut down medical
marijuana shops due to concerns they are magnets for crime,
distributors have been turning to places such as Fremont to keep
cannabis flowing to their patients.

But Fremont officials, initially caught off guard, are proposing a
45-day emergency ban on the dispensaries to "protect the public
health, safety and welfare."

Four of the five City Council members must support the temporary
moratorium for it to pass.

The council will take up the matter at 7 p.m. Tuesday, and will be
given an opportunity in November to extend that ban by up to two years
to allow for a complete study of related issues, such as zoning and
licensing.

Hayward, Oakland and San Francisco -- where shops have been
established -- have seen a spike in illegal drug activity and drug
sales, robbery of patients leaving dispensaries and loitering around
dispensaries, Fremont officials said.

The closure of many of those shops by cities has sent dispensaries
looking at a move to Fremont.

That's a growing concern for Fremont planning and law enforcement
officials.

Interim Planning Director Jeff Schwob said that in the past six
months, the city

has had two or three inquiries "by people fishing for answers" to see
what Fremont's codes would allow.

But Fremont and many other jurisdictions don't have any zoning codes
outlining where such facilities could be located.

"They could come in and put one across the street from the police
department or next to a school," Police Chief Craig Steckler said. "I
don't think it's healthy to have that happening next door to the school."

Medical marijuana advocates, however, say the fear that medical
marijuana shops lead to crime is without merit.

"I think concern about criminal activity is misplaced," said William
Dolphin, spokesman for Americans for Safe Access, a Berkeley-based
medical marijuana advocacy group. "I don't think that's been the
experience of Oakland and other cities that have carefully regulated
dispensaries."

In 1996, California voters passed the Compassionate Marijuana Act,
which allows a person with a doctor's recommendation to use cannabis
legally for medical purposes.

A new state law, Senate Bill 420, provides additional rules about
medical marijuana, including a voluntary program for identification
cards for qualified patients and doctors, and limits on the amount of
cannabis patients may receive.

Dolphin said local governments have a responsibility and obligation to
implement the law.

"It is a right that Californians have to access medical marijuana when
authorized by their doctors," Dolphin said. "This (moratorium) is a
poor use of taxpayers' resources to circumvent the will of the people."

But Fremont officials said it is unclear whether federal law -- which
considers marijuana distribution and use illegal -- can be replaced by
state law.

"This is an inherent conflict between state statute and federal
statute," Steckler said. "We should not be put in a position to turn a
blind eye to federal law."