MEDICAL POT FACILITIES IN HAYWARD HIGHLIGHT OPPOSING VIEWPOINT

HAYWARD -- Medical marijuana dispensary owners say their facilities help
fuel the downtown economy by attracting about 70 patients downtown 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 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 in ANG Newspapers 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 Helping 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, cancer, HIV 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 said city planner. Business owners, many of whom
hadn't known about the existing dispensaries, also told the Daily Review
they didn't want to see another one.

But the verdict is still out on whether the 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.