Pubdate: Sat, 09 May 2009
Source: Daily Review, The (Hayward, CA)
Copyright: 2009 ANG Newspapers
Contact: http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/writealetter
Website: http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1410
Author: Jason Sweeney

STIGMA DIFFICULT TO SHAKE, POT CLUB OPERATOR SAYS

ASHLAND - The nondescript white building in  unincorporated Ashland 
has iron bars on its windows and  the look of a bunker. An American 
flag hangs next to a  blue awning above the glass front door that 
faces out  onto busy East Lewelling Boulevard.

No signs or markings indicate what type of  establishment operates in 
the building. Yet, on a  typical weekday afternoon last week, a 
steady stream of  mainly young men moved in and out of the front door.

The establishment is called We Are Hemp, and it is the  last medical 
marijuana dispensary left standing in  unincorporated Alameda County.

"There's a stigma about this," said Adele Morgan, 70,  the 
dispensary's owner. "But I think we're a very  respected club, to 
tell you the truth."

When entering the front door, a large man with  .40-caliber pistol on 
his hip greets you with a smile.  In the waiting room, another armed 
guard logs in  customers on a form on a clipboard.

If you are a regular customer - or member - you are  escorted to the 
dispensary in the back, where,  underneath a glass counter, pipes are 
lined up next to  jars filled with green marijuana buds. Two 
"budtenders"  - Jason, 23, who declined to give his last name, and 
Scott Oh, 24 - will help you with your selection of  premium, 
high-grade or mid-grade marijuana.

If you're a new customer, you must provide a copy of 
a  recommendation from a doctor and fill out the proper  forms. You 
are photographed and given a membership card, and then you can make 
your  purchase.

The place is clean and has the vibe of a clinic, except  in the 
dispensary, where hip-hop art hangs from the  purple walls. 
Flat-screen televisions throughout the  facility provide live feeds 
from all the rooms and from  the front entrance for security 
purposes. A break room  in the back serves the eight employees.

Morgan says her establishment serves about 1,000  members, who are 
allowed to buy up to 3 ounces of pot  every 30 days, at a cost of 
$320 to $340 per ounce,  depending on the variety.

Mom-and-pop operation

Morgan is a retired nurse who worked for 30 years at  Kaiser 
Permanente Medical Center in Hayward and worked  for 12 years as a 
probation officer for the Alameda  County Probation Department. She 
has a master's degree  in educational psychology from Cal State East Bay.

In retirement, she opened We Are Hemp as a retail store  selling hemp 
products, converting it into a dispensary  in 2005 after receiving 
one of three medical marijuana  permits issued in unincorporated 
Alameda County.

She calls We Are Hemp a mom-and-pop operation, and says  her 
employees are like family. Her son, Mike Morgan,  31, is her business 
partner who takes care of most of  the day-to-day operations. The 
employees are all close  friends of Mike and Adele Morgan.

"It's family-owned," Adele says. "When I say  family-owned, it's 
people that have been around us many  years."

While Morgan has a permit from the county and says she  obeys state 
law and the county's medical marijuana  ordinance, her dispensary 
remains illegal under federal  law. Her two Hayward-based competitors 
were shut down  after raids by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency. 
The  Compassionate Collective of Alameda County was raided  in 2007 
and its owners are facing federal charges. The  Garden of Eden shut 
its doors after a DEA raid in 2008,  but retains its permit.

Last October, We Are Hemp was raided by the DEA, though  no charges 
resulted. Morgan has also endured scrutiny  and frequent 
walk-throughs by Alameda County sheriff's  deputies.

Morgan says the Obama administration's recent  statements that DEA 
raids on marijuana dispensaries  will cease is a good sign. For her, 
marijuana is a  medicine.

"It's been around for a long, long time, but it's been  labeled as a 
bad thing," she says.

She is a diabetic, with a heart condition and nerve  problems in her legs.

"Sometimes the pain is so bad, I can't stand it," she  says. "I have 
my little bit of marijuana and my  therapeutic pool - that's what 
keeps me going. I take  my little pipe, smoke a little, then I rest 
peacefully  every night."

Morgan is hoping that new attitudes from the government  will allow 
her to continue her operation on a busy  commercial corridor that 
straddles Ashland, Cherryland  and San Lorenzo.

"We abide by all the rules," she says. "We abide by  every one to a T."

However, local homeowners could become an obstacle.

At a special meeting with the county Board of  Supervisors in San 
Lorenzo last month, an overwhelming  majority of speakers made clear 
that they do not want  medical marijuana dispensaries in their 
neighborhoods.  Concerns were raised about marijuana getting into the 
hands of children, the number of dispensaries allowed  and in what 
locations, crime, and that the young men  who frequent the 
dispensaries are "thugs" who are not  purchasing marijuana for 
medical purposes.

Some speakers said that if medical marijuana is to be  legal, it 
should be dispensed in county clinics or in  pharmacies - although 
Supervisor Nate Miley explained  that this is unlikely because 
marijuana remains illegal  under federal law.

The Board of Supervisors held the meeting to provide  community input 
to County Counsel, which is redrafting  the county's marijuana 
ordinance. Last August, state  Attorney General Jerry Brown released 
new guidelines  concerning medical marijuana, requiring dispensaries 
to  operate as statutory cooperatives or collectives that  are not 
for profit. County Counsel is rewriting its  medical marijuana 
ordinance to be in compliance with  the new state guidelines.

The supervisors will return to San Lorenzo in the  summer for 
community input on the draft of the new  ordinance, which is expected 
to go before the board in  the late summer.

Areas of disagreement

"Supervisor Miley believes that qualified patients with  a doctor's 
recommendation should be able to obtain  medical marijuana in a safe, 
clean place," said Bob  Swanson, a constituent liaison for Miley - 
the most  vocal supporter of medical marijuana on the 
board.  Negative concerns regarding the dispensaries are  overstated, 
Swanson said.

"Anything that I have ever asked of the medical  marijuana 
dispensaries, they have complied  immediately," Swanson said. "They 
want to work with  government, not against it."

Wulf Bieschke, president of the San Lorenzo Village  Homes 
Association, said the issue is not whether  marijuana should be 
legal, but how the dispensaries  affect the community.

"We're trying to redevelop our downtown area. We're  having a hard 
time getting businesses to come already,"  he said. "With the stigma 
of medical marijuana out  there, I think it's going to give them 
another reason  not to come to San Lorenzo."

At the special meeting, Deputy Paul Liskey told the  audience that 
dispensaries lead to an increase in crime  and that the Sheriff's 
Office is philosophically  opposed to them.

"We are there to enforce the laws, and there are  conflicting laws," 
sheriff's spokesman Sgt. J.D. Nelson  said. "We're not advocates in 
one way or the other. We  get a lot of complaints from neighbors 
about the  marijuana clubs. Neighbors complain that 
unsavory  characters come there that don't look like they 
need  medical care. The neighbors feel that this is nothing  more 
than legalized drug dealing."
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart