Posted on 03/17/2005 8:47:29 AM PST by freebilly
Critics say office leads to traffic, loitering, public pot smoking
Several individuals, who declined to give their names, occupy the waiting room area for Resource Green, a medical marijuana club off Sonoma and Santa Rosa avenues in Santa Rosa, on Tuesday. While the club has a steady following, neighbors say members smoke pot on the street and cause traffic jams.
It goes by names like Skywalker, Afghan Skunk and Trainwreck and sells for about $45 for an eighth-ounce bag.
The pungent marijuana is offered at the Resource Green Caregivers and Patient Group, a Santa Rosa club where volunteers say pot is good for what ails its 2,400 customers, whether it's AIDS, cancer or just a severe case of the blues.
The Sonoma Avenue club - one of three in Santa Rosa - has built a steady following in the 10 months since it opened, in part through a reputation for potent weed at reasonable prices.
However, neighbors say the club's popularity is nothing to celebrate. Cars clog the street outside its steel-gated doors and people smoke joints in nearby yards, Rayburn Killion said.
Killion said the place appears to be frequented most by healthy twenty-something customers, who often resell pot to people waiting outside, play loud music or urinate in the bushes.
"It's just a zoo," said Janice Spotswood, Killion's girlfriend, who went to City Hall with him Tuesday to complain. "The police told us they're directed not to do anything about it."
Others in the Luther Burbank Gardens neighborhood, including contractor Erick Rudy, said they were shocked to learn the city had licensed a business to sell marijuana so close to Juilliard Park and Burbank Elementary School.
"I don't like my kids walking through a group of 15 people smoking pot," said Rudy, who also made the trip to City Hall. "We're trying to make this a family area."
City officials said pot clubs are entitled to business licenses.
Resource Green Chief Executive Officer Ken Haus said he sells only to people with prescriptions and valid club memberships.
"We have a lot of very sick people who use this place as a refuge," he said.
Smoking at the club is prohibited. A sign in the sales room warns that those who try to sell their pot to others will be barred from buying again.
The club sells to up to 200 people a day, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., a manager said.
Haus said he'd hired guards to help with street traffic. But he conceded there isn't much he can do once customers leave. He's canceled memberships of 10 to 20 people, he said.
He said problems with the club are overblown by neighbors who don't believe in marijuana's medicinal benefits.
"During Prohibition, I'm sure there were people who didn't like the new bar on the corner," Haus said. "This is no different than a Piggly Wiggly or anything else."
Californians legalized marijuana for medical use in 1996 with the approval of Proposition 215.
Although the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the authority of the Drug Enforcement Administration to shut pot clubs, they have sprung up all over the Bay Area. In addition to Resource Green, located across Santa Rosa Avenue from City Hall, there are clubs on West Steele Lane and Montgomery Drive.
The DEA has shut at least seven Sonoma County clubs, but Santa Rosa Police Lt. Ed Hemphill said local police have made no visits to Resource Green for marijuana-related complaints.
Another case is pending before the Supreme Court, which has been asked to determine whether federal agents can arrest people for growing their own marijuana for medical use.
Federal law prohibits the use of marijuana for any purpose.
Brien Farrell, Santa Rosa's city attorney, said the city isn't likely to impose sanctions on Resource Green, but complaints about customers could lead to policy changes.
He said the City Council will consider a moratorium on new pot clubs and an ordinance that regulates the number and location. The council could act in 60 days, Farrell said.
Because the clubs are relatively new, Farrell was uncertain how the law would apply.
Public sentiment seems to favor them, he said.
"I don't think Sonoma County jurors are enforcement minded when it comes to marijuana possession cases," Farrell said.
District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua promised in his 2002 campaign that he would not pursue medical pot cases.
Brian Wims, a 44-year-old Sonoma County AIDS patient and Resource Green customer, said he hopes that doesn't change any time soon.
As he walked with a cane Tuesday outside Resource Green, Wims said marijuana was as good as any medication he has taken for pain and side effects.
Ready access to marijuana is "a godsend to me," he said.
Another customer, George Cree of Santa Rosa, said most people obey the rules.
Cree, who has a degenerated disk in his back, said he was buying a $20 bag of marijuana last week when a neighbor accused him of bumping her car.
He said he didn't.
"I'm not sure what they're complaining about," he said.
But Killion said the problems are real. He's videotaped people smoking pot in his driveway and throwing bottles out of moving cars.
Killion, a Santa Rosa lawyer, said Resource Green violates the law by selling pot.
According to the statute, certified users can grow pot for their own use or get it from a primary caregiver, he said.
"I voted for Prop. 215," Killion said. "But I didn't vote for wholesale drug trafficking in my neighborhood."
"I voted for Prop. 215," Killion said. "But I didn't vote for wholesale drug trafficking in my neighborhood."
When you make a bargain with the devil what do you expect...?
No sense opening early for this client base.
I missed the study that found medical marijuana was good for a degenerated disk in your back...
The location of this "club" is at the intersection of Santa Rosa and Sonoma Ave. This is the beginning of a three mile strip of Santa Rosa Avenue infested with drug addicts, drug dealers, prostitutes, and pimps. There are also some homeless thrown into the mix, but most of the homeless hang out at the Mission and St Vincent DePaul in Old Railroad Square....
It;s almost as good a pain reliever as alcohol
It's good for the disease of chronic laziness, too.....
like, ping dude
This is in no-doubt related to their severe incontinence medical condition, right? Or is this a result of the blood thinning Iron City 40oz. post medical marijuana chaser? These people are sick and who can blame them for their behavior... ;)
This works out to $360 an ounce ... gold is going for about $440 an ounce. Hmmmmm ... I might consider a career change.
Yes, I can just see these guys now: "Doc, I've got a terrible case of the disenfranchiseds.."
your level of compassion for people in pain is wonderful..
Why not heroin, it would most likely kill the pain better?
Yes, in fact you did vote for wholesale drug trafficking and drug related problems. Either you are too foolish to see the consequences or believed the lies.
Doesn't quite have the same ring as, say, "Penicillin."
neighbors say members smoke pot on the street and cause traffic jams.
Yet another example of individuals who whine about their "rights" to do anything they please who could care less about the "rights" of those around them.
Not to mention The MightyQuin (Head shop) and that "Adult" Smut store.
Yeah, so much for the "legalize marijuana and the price will drop" theory. And this is for medical marijuana from compassionate people.
What's illegal going for in California? $200/oz.?
So much for, "What's wrong with smoking pot in the privacy of my own living room?"
Answer: Because that's not where you're smoking it.
If not, it's the only thing marijuana does not cure.
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