DISPENSARIES, BUSINESS OWNERS FACE OFF

Sides Argue Effect

HAYWARD -- Medical marijuana dispensary owners say their facilities
help fuel the downtown economy by attract-ing about 70 patients each
day.

Downtown business leaders, however, even those who support the use of
medicinal pot, question whether the dispensaries have the opposite
effect.

"Whether they are upstairs, next door or down the street, they may
deter the very businesses we are trying to attract," said Scott Raty,
president of the Hayward Chamber of Commerce. "They aren't consistent
with the goals to create a pedestrian-oriented downtown."

It may be a matter of opinion.

But that hasn't stopped dispensary owners from collecting empirical
data to help prove their case.

Two of the three downtown dispensaries conducted a survey this month
to help put faces on its patients for the City Council and other
community members who hold the facilities' fate in their hands.

City officials told the dispensaries this month that they are in
violation of Hayward's zoning law, which doesn't allow for the
dispensing of marijuana, even if it's recommended to patients by a
doctor.

Proposition 215, approved by 67 percent of Hayward voters in 1996,
makes marijuana legal in treating any illnesses for which it provides
relief. The federal government, however, still considers pot an
illegal drug.

Caught in the middle, the City Council on Tuesday night will begin
considering whether to change the city code to allow the dispensaries
to stay.

Dispensaries have been operating in Hayward for awhile. But their
profile was raised after a story last month about a potentially
growing hub of dispensaries. The city had received an application for
a use permit to operate a new B Street dispensary, and another coffee
shop dispensary was rumored on the way.

Phillip Mol, who owns Help-ing Hands Patients' Center on B Street,
analyzed 146 surveys taken at his dispensary and Local Patients
Cooperative on Foothill Boulevard.

He determined that patients shop downtown an average of more than two
times per week and spend about $20 per visit.

About half of the patients surveyed live in Hayward, San Leandro and
Castro Valley. The bulk of the rest come from Pleasanton, San Jose,
Fremont, Newark, San Lorenzo, Tracy, Union City and Livermore.

The average patient is 34 years old and makes $51,000 annually, Mol
said.

In response to an optional question about their medical condition, 36
patients said they had back conditions, and 21 said they have a mental
illness. Others said they take pot for pain management, arthritis,
cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, carpal tunnel
syndrome, chronic nausea, eating disorders and other illnesses.

Once word got out last month about the application for a new B Street
dispensary, the city received a slew of phone calls and letters, all
opposing a new facility, the city planner said. Business owners, many
of whom hadn't known about the existing dispensaries, also told ANG
Newspapers they didn't want to see another one.

But the verdict is still out on whether existing ones should be
allowed to remain members of the downtown business community.

Avalon Jewelers owner Rod Vargas, a member of the downtown Business
Improvement Area Board, isn't convinced that the dispensaries bring in
business, but doesn't see them as a detriment either.

"It's an image issue, with so many in such a small place," he said.
"In my opinion, they aren't doing any real harm. But I also don't see
where we need any more."

The council will consider the issue at its next meeting at 8 p.m.
Tuesday in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 777 B St.