HAYWARD COUNCIL TO REVIEW MEDICAL POT DISPENSARIES

Purveyors Had Been Alerted That Laws Don't Allow for Marijuana Distribution

The City Council agreed Tuesday night to consider sanctioning medical
marijuana dispensaries at its next meeting.

The council didn't express explicit support for the three existing downtown
dispensaries and appeared wary of the legal complications involved in
allowing them to stay.

"This is a start," said Phillip Mol, owner of Helping Hands Patients'
Center, a B Street dispensary.

City officials recently notified the three existing dispensaries -- Helping
Hands, Local Patients Cooperative and the Hayward Hempery -- that they are
breaking Hayward's zoning law, which doesn't allow for marijuana dispensing.

The council could amend the law in the spirit of Proposition 215, which
made the plant legal in California for medicinal uses. Cities such as San
Francisco and Fairfax have already done so.

But that could also put Hayward in conflict with the federal government,
which considers pot illegal.

Although formal votes aren't taken at the council's afternoon work
sessions, all but one of the six members present Tuesday wanted to put the
item on next Tuesday night's agenda for formal discussion.

They almost formed an ad hoc committee to first research the issue. But
City Manager Jesus Armas said that would go beyond the scope of their task
at hand, which was to decide whether to "agendize" the issue.

Councilman Joe Hilson objected to any further talk of a creating a law that
would encourage the violation of federal law.

"When I became a city councilor, I took an oath to uphold the laws of this
land," he said.

Councilman Olden Henson, who was in quest of more information on how the
dispensaries work, said he had no problem challenging a federal law.

"There were federal laws on the books would have not allowed me to be here
right now," said Henson, who is black. "I just want to know more about it."

Councilman Kevin Dowling brought the issue up to the council after
dispensary owners asked the city to develop regulations to authorize their
business.

Dowling, who toured the facilities last week, said he'd like to see the
dispensaries, police, business people and other community members come
together to work something out.

The dispensaries downtown aren't new -- they had been operating quietly
under business licenses for vague services such as sales and consulting,
with no mention of pot.

Their profile was raised, however, 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.

The city ended up denying the new application because of the zoning
violation and sent letters to the other three dispensaries, stating that
they were violating the code, and must cease dispensing or else be subject
to fines.

A member of the city's Community Preservation staff inspected the
facilities and issued warnings. But any further punishment probably will be
suspended until the council decides how to handle the political issue, city
officials said.

Hayward resident Stacy Fernandez, one of several people who testified
before the council in favor of the dispensaries, said she would be upset to
see them go.

Marijuana is the only thing Fernandez can take to relieve the symptoms of
lupus, she said. For 20 years, she weighed just 76 pounds. Now she weighs
125 pounds, she said.

"How thankful I am for Hayward and its beauty and its compassion," she said.

Bill Drury, opinion editor for Chabot College's Spectator student
newspaper, said pot is the only thing that helps his irritable bowel
syndrome, a condition that resulted from a prior bout with cancer.

"I got robbed in Oakland. I don't want to go to Oakland," he said. "I shop
here. I live here. I go to school here."

Other speakers included Mike Alclay, medical director of the Oakland
Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, and Jane Weirick, a Hayward resident and
president of the state's Medical Cannabis Association.

No one spoke Tuesday in opposition to the clubs.

Next Tuesday's meeting will begin at 8 p.m. in Council Chambers at City
Hall, 777 B St.