Pubdate: Mon, 16 Jul 2007
Source: Marin Independent Journal (CA)
Copyright: 2007 Marin Independent Journal
Contact:  http://www.marinij.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/673
Author: Tad Whitaker, Marin Independent Journal
Cited: Marin Alliance http://www.cbcmarin.com
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Marin+Alliance

POT CLUB IN FAIRFAX CELEBRATES 10 YEARS

Marin County's only medical marijuana dispensary, Fairfax's Marin 
Alliance, will celebrate its 10th anniversary Tuesday with a four-hour party.

Founder Lynnette Shaw said everyone is welcome to drop by for free 
food, live music and information about medical marijuana. People will 
be allowed to use marijuana, too.

But, she noted, "only if you're a member of the club."

Shaw, who lives in Fairfax, was a counselor at San Francisco's 
largest pot club before starting her own clinic in Fairfax office 
space originally rented as a Marin County campaign headquarters for 
Proposition 215, which legalized the medical use of marijuana. The 
measure got 86 percent of the vote in Fairfax.

Dozens of pot clubs opened after Proposition 215 passed in 1996 and 
federal agents moved in to shut a number of them down in Oakland, San 
Francisco and Santa Cruz. But somehow, Shaw's Fairfax clinic has 
continued to operate.

The Fairfax Planning Commission in 1997 approved a use permit for the 
clinic so the club can operate as a business in town, but the permit 
came with 84 conditions - such as maintaining records of patients and 
medicine, submitting regular financial audits, taking measures to 
ensure the marijuana is not stolen, not selling to anyone under 18 
and closing for business when baseball games are played at the Little 
League field across the parking lot.

"It was groundbreaking," Shaw said.

Shaw is allowed to grow marijuana. But she said she doesn't want the 
problems associated with that, and instead buys the product from 
California growers, eliminating federal problems triggered by 
transporting it across state lines.

"It's like a silent business," said Fairfax police Sgt. Chris Morin, 
who has worked in town for seven years.

Annual receipts hit about $1 million a few years ago.

Morin said the club straightened out initial problems and now, "We 
don't get any complaints about it."

Shaw attributes the club's success to the open-minded attitude in 
Fairfax. In return, she said she has demonstrated that medical 
marijuana clubs can be a productive part of a community.

"This is what I always envisioned," she said. "Marijuana peace has 
been achieved in Marin."

Shaw doesn't have any plans to expand. But after President Bush 
leaves office, she may consult for people who want to open clubs in 
other parts of the country.

"I would like to help them regulate," she said.

FESTIVITIES

The Marin Alliance party takes place from 3 to 7 p.m. Tuesday in 
School Street Plaza, behind the Bank of America on Center Boulevard in Fairfax. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake