Marijuana.com

xxdr_zombiexx

Medical pot for sale in Colfax

But a councilwoman says the store is bad for the town's image.

Sacbee.com | By Art Campos -- Bee Staff Writer | Published 2:15 am PDT Monday, May 3, 2004

A second medical marijuana store has opened in Placer County.

Located next to a pizza parlor on Highway 174 in Colfax, the Golden State Patient Care Collective began selling marijuana about a month ago.

Co-owner Jim Henry said his dispensary provides a needed service to foothills residents and others with health problems.

"People come in every day and thank us for opening here," said Henry, who is also an emergency medical technician.

As with the medicinal "pot shop" that opened in Roseville in January, the Colfax store finds itself in some controversy.

At least one City Council member is unhappy that the issue of a medicinal marijuana shop was never publicly discussed by the council and says the store's presence is bad for the town's image.

"I don't think this type of business adds anything to the city," said Councilwoman Sherrie Blackmun. "I don't want Colfax to be known for this."

City administrators said the cannabis club went through all legal channels to obtain a business license, and adheres to Proposition 215, which was approved by state voters in 1996 and permits medicinal marijuana for qualified patients.

In addition, a new state law that went into effect this year allows qualified patients and caregivers to cultivate the plant.

However, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration refuses to recognize the legality of California's medicinal marijuana laws and cautions the Colfax store owner not to be surprised if agents pound on his door with an arrest warrant.

"Marijuana is not a medicine," said Richard Meyer, special agent for the DEA office in San Francisco. "We take issue with the term 'medical marijuana.' "

[zombienote: Of course they do. Marijuana suppression is Job 1 with the DEA. Whether stamping out hemp granola or acting as medical marijuana stormtroopers brandishing dynamite and shotguns, Reefer madness is more important than most anything else they do. It's undeniable.]

The threat from the federal agency worries Henry, 55, a Nevada County resident who along with co-owner Cheryle Reindeau, opened the Colfax store April 2.

"But outweighing that fear is the opportunity I have to provide cannabis to people who need it," Henry said.

Henry said he tried to open his store in Nevada County but encountered opposition from District Attorney Michael Ferguson, who said he interprets Proposition 215 to mean that only someone seriously ill can possess and grow marijuana for medicinal purposes.

"To me, that means you can't open a shop and sell it," Ferguson said.

Henry eventually chose Colfax after talking to Mayor Sharon Gieras, who isn't opposed to the idea of a dispensary.

"It is supposed to be used medicinally." said Gieras, former owner of a health food store.

Gieras said she began telling residents in March that a medicinal marijuana store wanted to operate in town.

"Most people were shocked. They didn't think it was a good idea," she said. "I told them that sometimes a sick person is unable to eat and that medicinal marijuana allows the person to eat and to get his appetite back. It can also be good for easing the person's pain."

City Councilman Joshua Alpine also supported the business.

"As long as they are doing it responsibly and have good control over it, I don't see it as a problem," he said. "Anything that helps (a sick person), I'm all for it."

City Manager Bob Perrault said his staff reviewed the business application and "made the determination that there was no legal way for the city to deny the use," he said.

Perrault said the store is viewed as a pharmaceutical use, which is permitted in a commercial zone.

However, Councilwoman Blackmun felt the issue should have been discussed in a public meeting.

Henry said his customers, who come to his shop from as far away as Fresno and Bakersfield, include those coping with cancer, AIDS, hepatitis, chronic pain, chemotherapy treatments or glaucoma.

The buyers need a doctor's written recommendation for the cannabis, he said.

"The patient must have the original recommendation from the doctor and a California identification," Henry said. " And I call the doctor to make sure."

"So far, we have a steady flow of patients - about 45," said Henry's daughter, Wendy, 23, who helps her father with the business.

Prices depend on the marijuana's quality, Jim Henry said. "The best quality is $400 an ounce," he said.

[zombienote: Wow. The expense alone tells you it is real. Look at the pharmaceuticals that actually work - always an arm and a leg. And artificially so.]

Vendors and customers provide him the cannabis, he said.

Stores like Henry's are not a DEA priority, officials say. Many cannabis clubs have operated in the Bay Area without being raided. "All over California, our number one priority is methamphetamine," said Meyer.

[zombienote As if the DEA woiuld NEVER lie.... please. How stupid do they think people are?]

Gordon Taylor, DEA agent in Sacramento, said there is a "statewide misperception" that nearly every person who claimed to use marijuana for a medical reason is suffering from a terminal illness.

"It's becoming increasingly apparent to us that many people who are utilizing (Proposition 215) laws are doing it to justify their chronic use of marijuana," Taylor said.

Meyer said his agency raided a home that had marijuana plants and the occupant claimed he needed them to treat dyslexia, a learning disorder.

[zombienote: See? Job 1.]

In Old Roseville, Richard Marino, who opened a medical marijuana center called Capital Compassionate Care on Lincoln Street, said a second business in Placer County is fine with him.

"Competition is always good," he said. "People who are sick won't have to drive a long way."

But Marino wasn't pleased that a similar business is scheduled to open in Citrus Heights this month.

"It doesn't make sense to have our center in Roseville and then another in Citrus Heights just four miles away," he said. "I don't think you need to open them on every street corner."

[zombienote: I don't know what it is like in California, but we have Eckerds and CVA drug stores on many, many corners here. What's the difference? Shoelaces and condoms? Photo processing?]

Marino is looking to open a medical marijuana dispensary in Elk Grove. The City Council there has voted to place restrictions on such businesses, partially to discourage them from setting up shop in the community.

Marino's staff wouldn't give an estimate on how many patients they serve daily, saying only that business is "consistent."

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fight4rights

WOW! I go to school in Colfax, about one mile from that pizza shop. In fact I drove by it today on my way home from school.

I heard a rumor that there was a marijuana store open in Colfax, but I didn’t believe it because I had never seen it and only one of my friends knew about it.

I think I know which building it is now. The reason I didn’t identify the store is because there is no sign on the building.
Too bad I’m not a medical marijuana patient…

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"Those who do no harm to others should not be harmed by others..." Ethan Nadelmann
"Revolution is not a right, it is an obligation." John Locke
"Do SOMETHING besides argue emotions against the law, because it simply isn't a rational way to affect any type of change whatsoever. No offense intended, but your opinion on things is a moot point unless you take actions to change the law, rather than ramble about how unfair or injust it is." troublemaker_42
"'Just say no' to drugs, except those marketed by big pharmaceutical companies." Ignorant Politicians

melanotaenia

Well, I think that is just great that they were able to open a store in that area, and I only hope that this store is another addition to the eventual list of shops that can offer it to patients who need it most. What is more is that people who are really sick should not have to travel far to get their medical marijuana, so I think there should be more of these shops to give more convenience, and as far as competition goes, there is no way any store that sells marijuana is going to go out of business, at least not in the forseeable future. 400 dollars an ounce pails in comparison to the cost of prescription drugs offered for patients, which can run thousands of dollars and only offer a comparably small effect on their pain and suffering when compared to Marijuana. The DEA should just leave him alone, why don they still have to bother people who are not doing anything wrong? We finally are able to pass at least some laws to protect medical marijuana users, and now the government is turning their back on them. That is just awful. Instead of forward progress they seem to be going backwards, instead of realizing weed for what it is, they are still proclaiming it an awful, addictive drug. But wait, caffeine is more addictive then weed, so does that mean people should not drink coffee anymore? And what are these patients going to cause as far as problems? NONE! They are happy to get relief from their pain, they have no time to sit and cause a disturbance, I mean, some of these people are bed-ridden, others are in wheelchairs, what does the government think these people are going to do? They were dealt a bad hand in life, and instead of giving them the relief they need the DEA wants to take it away? Shame on them, I would like to see how these DEA agents would react if one of them were terminally ill and in pain and the only thing that would help them is marijuana.

All that aside, I hope the shop is able to stay open for years to come and I hope others will follow in their path. Score one for the patients, zero for the DEA.

xxdr_zombiexx

The DEA loves to harp on the idea that some people - 99% - make up or exxagerate claims to get the recommendation, which, technically is prescription fraud, or just like it. (Noell Bush)

I suggest, also, that wanting to be ill enough to smoke pot legally is pretty undesirable. You REALLY dont wanna be a REAL medical marijuana patient. To have some major illness and your life upside down?

the ever present stupidity is that people need no Rx to have adrink for their nerves or to smoke tobacco. That is one of the fundamental insanities of Reefer Madness.

No... us recreational users are currently doomed to the vageries of the black market, billions of untaxed dollars disappearing at a time we could use them for other things....

fight4rights

I don't really want to be a medical marijuana patient.
I wouldn't want to have stomach cramps, pain, gluacoma, cancer, or any of the other symptoms that would warrant a marijuana presciption.
I know most people who have a presciption would probably give up it up to get rid of whatever ailments they suffer.

So if I offended anyone who does suffer and uses marijuana as a medicine I am sorry.

It's just the thought of driving by all that weed everyday... and I can't have any!