POT COMMITTEE SMOKES PEACE PIPE

Members Agree On Proposal For Hayward's Dispensaries

HAYWARD -- The issue of how to deal with the city's medical marijuana
dispensaries has been pretty much nipped in the bud.

After just two meetings of a city ad hoc committee on the subject, members
agreed to a plan, subject to the City Council's approval, that would allow
two dispensaries on Foothill Boulevard to exist for at least three years
under certain conditions.

A third existing dispensary on B Street is moving to a new location on
Foothill Boulevard north of the city border on unincorporated county land,
according to committee members.

The committee of city officials, community members and medical marijuana
advocates was formed to look into the possibility of sanctioning, even if
informally, the dispensaries now operating against Hayward's zoning law.

They also may be in violation of criminal law, depending upon to whom you
talk. Prop. 215 legalized marijuana for medicinal uses in California,
although it still is considered illegal under federal law. The Hayward
Police Department declined to participate on the committee because of this
inherent conflict.

After weeding through the issues and concerns, members said they can live
with a compromise offered by City Manager Jesus Armas. The plan is to begin
by asking council members at a work session this fall if they would like to
consider an ordinance recognizing certain medical marijuana identification
cards.

The council might, for example, want to deem identification cards that the
county plans to issue residents in unincorporated areas as acceptable for
Hayward patients.

The council also would consider an "informal understanding" with the
dispensaries that they can operate for three years if they agree to: limit
the amount of pot on-site each day; try to keep people from hanging out
near the facilities; ban advertising; recognize that the operation is
subject to police inspection; and encourage patients not to smoke on-site
or on the streets.

"We don't want marijuana smoke wafting out of buildings," Mayor Roberta
Cooper said. "We want this to be very quiet."

At the end of three years, if the state and federal governments have worked
out the jurisdictional conflict, the city might consider amending its
zoninglaw to allow the dispensaries to operate under a conditional use
permit, Armas said.

"If the state and federal conflict is not resolved, you would cease
operations," Armas said, addressing the dispensary owner.

However, if by that time a plan under study to widen Foothill Boulevard is
implemented, the two existing Foothill shops, both near the intersection
with B Street, would be forced to move for other reasons: They happen to be
right in the project's wrecking path on land the city would take.

Committee member Shon Squier, who owns the Local Patients Cooperative, said
he's concerned about the condition to limit the amount of pot on-site,
particularly as business has picked up.

But limiting the amount of marijuana will make his facility less vulnerable
to robberies, not to mention a federal raid, said Mayor Roberta Cooper.

"The more you have, the more risk you run of the marijuana Gestapo coming
after you," she said. "And keep in mind, you are not allowed to exist under
the present structure."

The entire committee was present Wednesday: Armas, Cooper, Squier, city
attorneys Michael O'Toole and Maureen Conneely, Oakland Cannabis Buyers
Cooperative director Jeff Jones, Medical Cannabis Association president and
Hayward shop owner Jane Weirick, Chamber of Commerce representative Chris
Zaballos and Westminster Hills Presbyterian Church Pastor John Wichman.

The Hayward dispensaries aren't new: The youngest is about 6 months old,
and the oldest has been around for more than a decade.

But their profile was raised earlier this year after a report in The Daily
Review about a proposed new dispensary. The city turned down the proposed
new owner and notified the existing dispensary owners that they were
violating the law.

That led Squier to ask the council to form a committee to consider
authorizing the dispensaries' existence.