ROBBERS INVADE OAKLAND POT CLUB

OAKLAND -- A medical marijuana club in Oakland's so-called Oaksterdam
district was the target of an invasion-style armed robbery Sunday morning.

Four men, one with a gun, tied up a bouncer outside Compassionate
Caregivers at about 8:10 a.m. and barrelled their way to where the cannabis
club is located on the top floor of the three-story building, police said.

Several medical marijuana patients and staff members were inside the club
at 1740 Telegraph Ave., part of an area known as Oaksterdam because of the
proliferation of marijuana dispensaries that have opened in the triangle
between Telegraph Avenue, Broadway and 17th and 19th streets in recent months.

The gunmen tied up another person inside the dispensary and took several
ounces of marijuana and a significant amount of cash before fleeing, police
said.

The bouncer -- whose job is to ensure that patrons have medical marijuana
user's cards -- was able to free himself and run to the 19th Street BART
station, where he phoned police.

Oakland Police Sgt. Hugh Kidd said no one was injured and no patrons or
staff members were robbed individually.

Club personnel were cooperative with police, Kidd said.

No arrests have been made.

A person answering the phone Sunday at Compassionate Caregivers, where
music played loudly in the background, said everyone at the club was fine,
but he declined to comment further.

Oakland was one of the first U.S. cities to legitimize the use of medical
marijuana by deputizing a former club on Broadway as a distributor. That
dispensary was shut down by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in 1998, but a
number of marijuana-related businesses have sprung up in the neighborhood
to replace it.

Cannabis clubs in Berkeley and Sacramento have been hit by similar armed
robberies in recent years.