COMPETING CANNABIS CLUBS

MEDICAL MARIJUANA has recently become a mainstream issue. With the U.S.
Supreme Court allowing to stand the 9th Circuit's decision permitting
doctors to recommend cannabis, plus Gov. Davis' approval of a bill
establishing statewide Proposition 215 enforcement standards, it is timely
that the Oakland City Council will be considering regulations regarding the
city's cannabis clubs at tonight's meeting of the Public Safety Committee.

Oakland currently boasts over a half dozen medical cannabis cafes, clubs
and dispensaries, concentrated mostly around the 19th Street BART station.
These establishments are successfully serving the medical needs of nearly
3,000 residents of Oakland, as well as many other seriously ill patients
from Northern California who live in regions lacking in access to medical
cannabis.

Cannabis businesses have contributed to the development of a unique, lively
and interesting neighborhood in downtown Oakland. According to Mario
Pacetti, owner of the Fat Cat Cafe, cannabis-based businesses have planted
flowers on Broadway and are cleaning up an area nobody really cared about
until now.

Recently, however, the proliferation of new clubs has led to concerns about
maintaining proper standards of business practice. To this end, the city's
Medical Cannabis Working Group has proposed a package of regulations aimed
at assuring security, patient verification, insurance, access for the
handicapped and other standards. By and large, these proposals represent a
sensible solution to the few minor problems that have arisen to date.

The recently formed Uptown Merchants Association, which includes several
medical cannabis dispensaries, supports the principle of regulation and is
cooperating with the working group. Kenny Mostern, UMA spokesperson and
Uptown-area business owner, believes the dispensaries are a boon to
commerce. The group wants to make sure that sensible regulations and
licensing fees are written so the city can profit from the clubs.

Less sensibly, City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente has proposed
that all clubs be closed except for a single, official dispensary. Such a
move would seriously jeopardize patients' interests. Monopolies always mean
higher prices, poorer service, fewer choices and less competition.

They are also an invitation to political favoritism and corruption. Most
significantly, a single, designated dispensary would be highly vulnerable
to a federal shutdown, as happened to the Oakland Cannabis Buyers'
Cooperative in 1998, when it was deputized to be the city's lone provider.

The present system of competing, private clubs is serving Oakland well. In
addition to providing safe and affordable access to medicine, it has
revitalized a formerly neglected neighborhood of the city, attracting
visitors and business to the community.

Oakland's medical cannabis businesses now provide gainful employment to
over 150 employees. Police are likewise supportive in view of the fact that
crime hasn't been a problem. Many like the concentration of clubs downtown,
since it provides a responsible center for marijuana distribution that they
can keep their eyes on.

The City Council would be well advised to build on the strengths of the
present system of private, competing clubs by enacting sensible regulations
for good business practice. What it should not do is crimp this unique,
successful and valuable asset to the community by arbitrarily limiting the
number of clubs.

Note: Dale Gieringer of Berkeley is a founding board member of the Oakland
Civil Liberties Alliance and one of the original organizers for the Prop.
215 campaign.