Pubdate: Tue, 28 Apr 2009
Source: Union, The (Grass Valley, CA)
Copyright: 2009 The Union
Contact: http://apps.theunion.com/utils/forms/lettertoeditor/
Website: http://www.theunion.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/957
Author: Dave Moller
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries

GRASS VALLEY'S TOP COP WANTS POT SHOPS BARRED

Rising crime statistics surrounding metropolitan medical marijuana 
dispensaries have prompted Grass Valley police Chief John Foster to 
ask for an emergency moratorium on pot shop operations in town.

No one is currently trying to open a dispensary, but we want to be 
proactive and not run into problems that have occurred throughout the 
state," Foster said Monday. "The problem now is that the city has no 
regulations in place."

The city's top law officer will ask for an ordinance at 7 p.m. today 
at the Grass Valley City Council meeting at City Hall, 125 E. Main St.

I've heard of people wanting to open dispensaries here but I've told 
them to be very careful," said Nevada County District Attorney Cliff 
Newell. California Attorney General Jerry Brown has sent out 
guidelines for medical marijuana dispensaries, and "It's awfully 
restrictive," Newell said. "It has to be an absolute nonprofit."

Last week, Foster was at a California Police Chiefs Association 
meeting on medical marijuana and was given statistics from the San 
Francisco and Los Angeles police that showed crime increased around 
dispensaries there.

Los Angeles neighborhoods saw a 200 percent rise in robberies and a 
more than 50 percent hike in burglaries and assaults after 
dispensaries opened there.

Both major cites have tied several homicides or attempted murders to 
the shops where marijuana is sold legally under Proposition 215 -- 
the medical pot law passed in 1996 -- according to the statistics 
Foster supplied The Union.

Nevada County has no known medical pot dispensaries, according to 
James Henry, who opened one in Colfax five years ago.

The Golden State Patient Care Collective sells medical marijuana to 
those with legitimate recommenations for anywhere from zero to $400 
per one-eighth ounce, Henry said. Patients are screened and get 
nowhere near the product unless they have a legitimate doctor's 
prescription, Henry said.

The dispensary owner said he has no problems with Colfax area police, 
and no violent incidents have occured since he opened, Henry said.

I don't want gangsters peddling pot in town anywhere, either," Henry 
said. "I think we do a good job here, and the patients are grateful. 
We help them eat and sleep."

Calls to the Placer County Sheriff's Department for comment about 
Henry's business were not returned.

Nevada County has had voluntary medical marijuana identification 
available this year because of state mandates, said Jeff Brown, 
director of Health and Human Services.

The two (people) who have registered feel the card gives them a 
feeling of security in case they get stopped when transporting it," 
Brown said. "It's not the county's intent to make it mandatory."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom