THE RIGHT MEDICINE

Local Entrepreneurs Make the Case for More Medical Marijuana
Dispensaries

Whatever you think about James Blair's proposal to bring a medical
marijuana dispensary to Sebastopol, don't dare call it a pot store.
It's not a pot store, Blair will insist. "Repeat after me: med-i-cal
mar-i-juan-a dis-pen-sar-y."

It's safe to say that Blair is a little defensive about his pot
sto--er, medical marijuana dispensary. His reaction is somewhat
surprising, considering how little opposition the proposal has
generated so far. Currently in the process of looking for the right
location and applying for a use permit, Blair has met with Sebastopol
officials, who seem cautiously optimistic about the proposed dispensary.

"I would have to look at the plan before I could say whether I support
this project," says Sebastopol City Council member Craig Litwin. "But
I do support the rights of patients to have access to medical marijuana."

In 1994 Blair broke his neck in an accident and began to smoke
marijuana for medical purposes. Two years later, he founded the
nonprofit Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative of Berkeley. He decided to
locate the new dispensary in Sebastopol because he wants to serve the
county's estimated 450 medical-marijuana patients. The only other
medical-marijuana dispensaries in Sonoma County are both located in
Guerneville. Blair also wants to send a statement to the federal government.

"A few years ago, a medical cannabis dispensary in Sonoma County
closed down because of the federal government," he says. "This is a
way to show the federal government it is not effective in eradicating
medical cannabis in California."

Despite his message, Blair believes the media is making too much out
of medical marijuana. "Next year you're going to be reading about how
they are selling it at Walgreens and Rite Aid," he says.

In 1996 California voters approved Proposition 215, which allowed the
use of medicinal marijuana. The law contradicts federal legislation,
leading to some sticky legal questions. Shortly before leaving office,
Gray Davis signed SB 420 into law, which among other things
established the creation of identification cards for medical marijuana
users.

But though California's laws are more favorable toward medical
marijuana these days, plenty of people still oppose it. Take the
medical marijuana dispensary Aaron James Mitchell and his mother Karen
van Kayne are proposing for the town of Sonoma. Mitchell is the son of
Artie Mitchell, San Francisco's "king of porn," who along with his
brother Jim opened the O'Farrell Theater in San Francisco and produced
the influential porn flick Behind the Green Door. In 1991 Jim drove to
Artie's Corte Madera home and shot him dead. He was later convicted of
voluntary manslaughter and served three years in San Quentin. He now
lives in Petaluma.

Aaron Mitchell got the idea for the Sonoma Cannabis Co-op when he was
arrested for possession of crystallized hash oil in Contra Costa
County, which he says he was carrying to treat an unspecified medical
condition relating to his father's death. "The police refused to
recognize that I was a medical patient when they arrested me, and they
charged me with one-third of a million dollars bail," he says. "After
I paid the bail, they let me go and dropped the charges."

Angry at his treatment, Mitchell decided to make medical marijuana
more available to patients. He approached his mother, a mortgage
broker, with the proposal for the co-op. They signed a lease with a
landlord for a space south of the Sonoma Plaza and met with city
officials to discuss the idea.

"We presented them with a long document that answered all their legal
questions," says van Kayne. "They had very few questions for us. At
this time in California, we are very well protected by the law."

But in late March the co-op hit a setback when the landlord, John
Powers, backed out of the deal. Mitchell and van Kayne believe Police
Chief John Gurney intimidated and threatened Powers so that he grew
afraid to rent to them.

"Powers told me that he was too old to be harassed like this," says
van Kayne. "He's old and scared. Gurney has also said that even if our
proposal does pass the hearings, everyone at the co-op will be
arrested the day it opens." Powers has denied that Gurney ever
harassed or intimidated him. Gurney did not return the Bohemian's
phone calls.

Regardless, the Sonoma Cannabis Co-op is looking for another location.
"No one else has opposed the co-op except for Gurney," Mitchell says.
"We're looking for a new location. We're hoping to have one by June or
July."