PLEASANTON TAKES LID OFF MEDICAL POT ISSUE

City Commission to Examine Residents' Needs

Dressed in a suit and tie, Pleasanton resident Kirk Warren is the last
person one would point to as a medical marijuana user.

Warren, an executive for a Fortune 500 company, recently went public
when he attended a Pleasanton City Council meeting to put a face to
the medical marijuana issue.

"I felt a responsibility in my own local community, to at least be
there and listen," Warren said recently during an interview from his
Pleasanton backyard. "It's been brewing, and it was about time for me
to come out of the closet."

Warren, a loving husband and devoted father of two, was first
prescribed medical marijuana nine years ago for a condition that he
did not want to discuss publicly.

"It alleviates the symptoms of my condition," he said. "And, with this
medicine, the condition rarely happens now."

Worried about what his children would think of him, Warren used to go
behind his home and take his medicine using a battery-operated vaporizer.

Now, Warren isn't as concerned about what other people
think.

"For the first time in my life, I'm standing up," he said. "Since I've
grown up white, upper class, college degrees, two graduate degrees,
all I've done in my life is fit in."

At the City Council meeting in June, Warren displayed his Alameda
County-issued medical marijuana ID card and urged the council not to
ban marijuana dispensaries from operating within city limits.

However, at that meeting, the council voted to ban marijuana
dispensaries in Pleasanton. But a majority of the council also agreed
to send the issue to the city's Human Services Commission to determine
the community's needs for medical marijuana and whether they are being
met. Several council members voiced concern with openly defying
federal law, which prohibits any use or sale of marijuana.

"This has been an eye-opening experience for me," Warren said a few
weeks ago. "There are large segments of our population who can condone
inappropriate legislation and actually go to the extent of
incarcerating people."

Warren, who first became involved with medical marijuana as an
advocate for the passage of Proposition 215, which legalized medical
marijuana for seriously ill patients in 1996, said there should be a
dispensary somewhere in the Tri-Valley. If the manufacture and sale of
medical marijuana were controlled like those of alcohol, patients
would benefit, he said.

He plans to share his thoughts at the Human Services Commission
meeting tomorrow night, at which they plan to discuss the community
need for medical marijuana.

In a staff report to the commission, Assistant City Attorney Larissa
Seto and Community Services Manager Eileen Hofstadt have noted that
actually determining Pleasanton residents' need for medical marijuana
is difficult. There is the voluntary nature of the county's
identification card program, they said, as well as the medical privacy
issues, which prohibit local clinics and health centers from releasing
patient names.

County officials have said the distribution of cards is proportional
to population. Using that information, Seto and Hofstadt determined
that of the 1,349 medical marijuana ID cards issued through May 2007,
about 61 were given to Pleasanton residents.

The commission will also consider a recommendation by city staff to
coordinate with Alameda County to conduct a survey, by either mail or
phone, of medical marijuana card holders. Staff is also suggesting
Pleasanton team with Dublin and Livermore to do a random and
confidential telephone survey.

Seto and Hofstadt are also recommending that Oakland resident Todd
Rogers be allowed to present anecdotal information from Oakland-based
medical marijuana dispensary operators about patient and caregiver
clients from Pleasanton. Rogers, has previously expressed interest in
opening a dispensary in Pleasanton and had planned to open one in
Stockton, before that city also adopted a ban.

Other Bay Area cities with bans on dispensaries include Concord,
Dublin, Pleasanton Hill, Antioch, Oakley, Pinole, San Pablo and Hercules.

The Pleasanton Human Services Commission will meet 7 p.m. tonight at
the City Council Chambers, 200 Old Bernal Ave.