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Backlash Endangers California Pot Dispensaries
12/20/07|Wall Street Journal| by Heather Won Tesoriero

For years, when Janet Seaboyer sought relief from her frequent bouts of anxiety, she went to the Compassionate Center of Santa Barbara and ordered from a marijuana menu that featured chocolate pecan truffles and cannabis strains with names like Purple Urkle and Sweet and Sour.

But the Compassionate Center shut down at the end of October, and the 54-year-old Ms. Seaboyer -- who says she has suffered from epilepsy since childhood -- is considering going back to clandestine street purchasing. "I wouldn't want to, but if I have no other choice that's what I'd have to do," she says.

Californians legalized marijuana for medical use in 1996 when they passed Proposition 215. But a recent crackdown in this Southern California enclave and elsewhere in the state by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has forced a number of dispensaries out of business and highlighted the awkward tension between state and federal laws.

California has an estimated 300 medical-marijuana dispensaries, according to the Marijuana Policy Project, a nonprofit group that backs medical use of the drug. Their number rose sharply after a 2003 state Senate bill strengthened the 1996 law. Initially confined to big cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, the dispensaries cropped up in smaller communities across the state.

Nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Ynez Mountains, Santa Barbara is known for being one of the poshest communities in the nation. In the past few years, it also became home to a thriving medical-marijuana business. The city's new cottage industry really started to flourish a year ago, when the city council passed Measure P, an order mandating that pot arrests should be the Santa Barbara Police Department's lowest priority and that a city-appointed board must review all such arrests. Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum says 10 new dispensaries sought licenses to operate in town, which brought the total figure to about 15 for a population of just 90,000.

But the sudden sprouting caused some problems, and they got worse a few months ago, when an incident outside a dispensary drew a public outcry. Linda Vega was teaching a flamenco class when a gang fight erupted in front of a dispensary two doors down, forcing parents strolling by with their children to seek refuge in the courtyard of her dance studio. Appalled, Ms. Vega and more than 100 other concerned residents gathered for a neighborhood meeting to air their complaints.

The incident increased the tension between people like Ms. Vega, who want the dispensaries closed, and patients and their doctors, who say the sites offer a safe, appropriate environment in which to purchase cannabis to alleviate various ailments.

Joseph Rodino, 56, a former masonry manager, bought his marijuana from the same dispensary as Ms. Seaboyer. He says he needs it to stimulate his appetite and relieve discomfort from Hepatitis C, a virus that afflicts the liver and causes pain and fatigue. Mr. Rodino, who formerly bought the drug on the street from dealers, says the dispensaries do away with "all the furtive sneaking around and that whole drug-world sort of thing by making this a really simple business transaction for something that you need."

But Ms. Vega doesn't buy that argument. She says the dispensary next to her studio, called Acme, became a magnet for the same riffraff that street dealers attract. The only difference, she says, is it had the veneer of being a legal business. "It wasn't people with cancer who needed it. They were hoodlums," she says.

Acme's owner, Glen Mowrer, says the problem wasn't as bad as Ms. Vega makes it out to be and that last summer's fight had nothing to do with the dispensary itself. The nearby "low-income housing has something to do with gang members, not Acme," he says.

In any case, the growing controversy has prompted the Santa Barbara City Council to impose a moratorium on new dispensaries. The city is currently developing draft ordinances to regulate the dispensaries that the City Council will vote on in the coming months. It is considering a conditional use-fee permit that would restrict dispensaries to areas away from schools, homes and parks. "That's most of our city, so it's challenging," says Mayor Blum.

Patrick Fourmy, one of the Compassionate Center's founders, maintains that his dispensary offered a legitimate medical service. The center had 3,000 clients, including, he says, people from "the district attorney's office, the police department and chief executive officers from Fortune 500 companies." Patients there were served only if they had a doctor's "recommendation." (By law, prescriptions can be written only for FDA-approved medications.) Since the center's storefront closed, it has been operating a delivery service while it tries to reopen a brick-and-mortar establishment.

But the Food and Drug Administration maintains that marijuana offers no health benefits and that its possession and sale remain banned by federal law. Last year, the FDA issued an advisory with other federal agencies stating that "no sound scientific studies" support medical use of the drug.

The dispensaries' critics have found an ally in the federal government. When the DEA, which has raided about 70 dispensaries in the state since 2001, issued notices to Santa Barbara dispensary landlords threatening to seize their properties, several operations closed, including Mr. Mowrer's Acme. He says his mother owns the property, and he doesn't want to risk losing it.

Joshua Braun, 30, owned another local dispensary, Hortipharm Caregivers, for 2½ years, but in light of the recent actions by federal authorities, he says, he turned the business over to others. Mr. Braun thought Measure P and the initial acceptance by Santa Barbara's community would insulate him from such problems, but he says the federal government has found an effective tool to discourage the business.

"Landlords here have a lot more to lose," says Mr. Braun. "They're going to lose a building not worth $200,000 but $2 million."

 

SirSmokaALot

Wow.... We need to get more people to get congressman (or anybody who can do such thing) in white house to ask FDA board the right questions to make them choke because they're hiding behind that lie and taking advantage of the screwy current system. Come on, We need more effort get done because as everyday goes by and i see such lies... it pushes my anger up a notch every single day....

Broliette

That's right, if you're not pissed, you're not paying attention

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