SEBASTOPOL MAY GET MEDICAL POT SHOP

Operator of Berkeley cooperative has backing of mayor, council member

Hoping to capitalize on west Sonoma County's liberal reputation, the
founder of the oldest medical marijuana club in Berkeley is proposing
a similar shop just south of downtown Sebastopol.

James Blair, who in 1996 founded a nonprofit club called the Cannabis
Buyers Cooperative of Berkeley, said he is negotiating to lease a
commercial space on Main Street five blocks south of Highway 116.

Blair's is the second medical marijuana dispensary proposal to surface
in the past week in the county, following in the footsteps of a plan
to open a storefront in Sonoma near the town's historic Plaza.

That proposal, by Aaron Mitchell, son of the slain San Francisco "King
of Porn" Artie Mitchell, is unrelated to Blair's, and neither are
being planned in conjunction with local medical marijuana activists.

After meeting with Sebastopol city officials this week, Blair believes
his chances of city approval are high, though he was told his proposal
must go through public hearings and will require a use permit limited
by city-imposed conditions. No hearings have yet been scheduled.

A longtime activist for the environment and anti-nuclear causes, Blair
said he carefully chose the time and place to propose his second
medical marijuana co-op. He said he uses marijuana himself to
alleviate pain caused in a 1994 accident that left him in temporarily
paralyzed.

Blair said he believes that with President Bush fighting for
re-election, recent favorable federal court rulings and a new state
law, it is safe to expand medical marijuana operations beyond the Bay
Area.

And given Sebastopol's public support for the medical use of marijuana
- - and the City Council's 2002 suggestion to its police force not to
cooperate with federal drug agents - the west county town was
opportunity knocking, Blair said.

"This is a time to establish new beachheads, build our resources, get
attorneys on retainer and get prepared for the next onslaught," he
said.

Sebastopol Mayor Linda Kelley and Councilman Larry Robinson both said
they would support Blair's proposal if the concerns of police and
residents could be satisfied.

"I firmly believe that patients ... should be afforded whatever is
legal to help with their pain and suffering," said Kelley, a critical
care nurse at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. "That's what health care
is about, addressing pain and suffering and having access to
treatments."

There are two other medical marijuana cooperatives in Sonoma County,
both in Guerneville.

Sebastopol's initial reaction to the proposal contrasts that of
Sonoma, which is unsure whether such a retail operation would be legal
under current zoning codes.

Sonoma officials plan to meet next week with Mitchell's mother, Karen
Van Kayne, to discuss the proposal.

Despite California's legalization of the use of marijuana for medical
purposes with the 1996 passage of Proposition 215, conflicts between
state and federal laws endure. Federal law bans the use and
cultivation of marijuana for any purpose.

Sebastopol residents and city leaders need to consider the potential
conflicts before allowing a pot store to open, Sebastopol Police Chief
Jeff Weaver said.

"If this plan moves forward, everybody needs to have full knowledge of
all the possible ramifications, from the criminal element and the
federal government," he said. "I don't see there being a problem with
our local officials, but there is a disconnect with the state of
California and the federal government. This could be a situation where
our reality conflicts with their reality."