California, San Fernando

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Pot Dispensaries Still Prohibited in San Fernando

Written by Andrea Alegria, Sun Contributing Writer
The San Fernando Sun | Thursday, 09 April 2009


"Medical Marijuana has helped a whole lot of people," urged Truman Weatherly, before the San Fernando City Council this week voted to extend the prohibition of marijuana dispensaries for an additional ten months.

"Medical cannabis works. It heals people. I've seen it with my own eyes. I've given my life to the subject," said Weatherly, who applied to open a medical marijuana dispensary in the city a few months ago.

Two such applications, including Weatherly's, led the City Council to approve a 45-day moratorium prohibiting these establishments last month on March 2, to allow time to study and research the impact that these dispensaries would have in San Fernando.

Currently the San Fernando City code does not list medical marijuana dispensaries as a permitted use in any zone, and there are no zoning regulations specifically addressing the establishment of these dispensaries within San Fernando.

The moratorium, which was extended until March 3, 2010, will be in place pending the adoption of permanent regulation to address the establishment of these dispensaries.

Weatherly, who is a volunteer caregiver at Therapeutic Recovery Collective, a health center and medical marijuana dispensary that helps cancer and HIV patients, was discouraged by the extension of the moratorium.

He said in San Fernando alone there are 40 cancer patients who would benefit from alternative treatment with medical cannabis.

"I'd like to get to a point in the near future where the City of San Fernando can get past bureaucracy and I can get to a point where I can open a dispensary here and let cancer patients come into my clinic to get the medicine they need in order for them to get well," he said.

"I get calls all the time from sick people wanting help, and I can't help them. I really want to try. I want to try because I believe in what we're doing. There are people here that need help and all we want to do is give them the medicine that they need, that's it," he told the Council, his voice cracking with emotion.

He added that his medical marijuana dispensary would have nothing to do with getting high and everything to do with helping people. "We've already proven this in court, we've already won our battles," he said.

California law allows for medical marijuana distributors serving cancer patients, and those patients dealing with chronic pain or other serious ailments. Several studies support the medicinal benefits of cannabis.

A handful of San Fernando residents spoke out on this issue.

Local business owner Tom Ross said the city would be better off not having these types of businesses.

"While there may be some medical benefit to having a business like this, I think there're certain types of businesses that the city of San Fernando shouldn't get involved in, and this might be one of them."

Former Councilwoman Brenda Esqueda was also against having a marijuana dispensary in the city and said most residents in the city would be too.

However, residents Leslie and Sharon Aisenman spoke in favor of allowing a marijuana dispensary in the city, and urged the Council to study the issue carefully.

"I for one am strongly in favor of supporting the will of the people of California that decided that we should have medical marijuana dispensaries. There is a need for it, I believe, as much in San Fernando as anywhere else," said Leslie Aisenman.

Sharon Aisenman added: "This is simply a knee jerk reaction to the word marijuana, I don't feel that any real thought was put into people who are sick and in pain and need this as medicine. I'm very discouraged that the city even put a moratorium on it."

She urged the council to move forward carefully. "Please don't deal with this the way you have dealt with alcoholism in San Fernando, it's knee jerk, please give this thought and be prepared and make a really informed and intelligent and compassionate decision on this."

Paul Deibel, Community Development Director, said staff has not pre-judged the operation of medical marijuana in San Fernando. "We are aware of both the problems and benefits that have resulted from the operation of such dispensaries. It's our intent to look objectively at alternatives and options."

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SFPD on fog-shrouded pot farms: too much green

By MARCUS WOHLSEN (AP) – 2 Oct 09

SAN FRANCISCO — Socked in by coastal fog, gardeners in the city's Sunset District struggle to coax vegetables from plots rarely touched by sunlight. But recently, a certain crop has flourished behind closed doors.

Marijuana farms have become so widespread in this middle class neighborhood that the city's new police chief appealed to the public Wednesday for tips to help shut the operations down.

Apparently even in this pot-tolerant town, there is such a thing as too much green.

In the Sunset, police say row houses crammed with as many as 2,000 marijuana plants bear the marks of classic criminal enterprises.

Raids on three dozen homes and warehouses have uncovered 20 guns, more than 8,000 plants and nearly $85,000. Investigators believe that organized crime is keeping the drugs, cash and weapons flowing. Often once grow houses are raided, police said, their backers just set up new operations down the street.

"All this has led to the creation of a very dangerous situation," Chief George Gascon said.

Growers are attracted by rents that are moderate by San Francisco standards. Coastal winds sweep pot's skunky smell away.

Beyond the concern about drug-ripoff shootouts and deals gone bad, officials said the real worry is the potential for fire from houses gutted to create intensive urban farms.

At a news conference Wednesday, San Francisco Fire Marshal Barbara Schultneis said growers rewire the homes to avoid detection of the huge spike in energy use needed to grow pot. Shoddy electrical work can spark blazes she said, as can hot grow lights used to simulate sunshine.

Houses in the Sunset often share common walls, which allows fires to spread quickly. Growers often nail plywood to the insides of windows to keep out natural light and prying eyes, investigators said. As a result, fires can burn longer without being noticed.

City firefighters typically battle two blazes a year caused by marijuana growing operations, Schultneis said. This year they have already fought four, including one at a warehouse that partially collapsed onto a firefighter, causing serious injuries.

Conflict over grow houses has long been an issue in many small towns along California's North Coast, the heart of the state's pot-growing territory. The boom in San Francisco's indoor growing operations comes at a time when legalizing marijuana across the state has become a hot topic, and many pro-pot activists feel they are gaining traction with politicians and voters.

The trend toward acceptance spurred by the spread of medical marijuana — legal under state law — has led to a common feeling that pot has essentially become legal, especially in liberal bastions like San Francisco.

Many residents pride themselves on the city's well-established medical marijuana industry, which city agencies regulates like other businesses. Police even found that four of the 36 growing operations they raided in recent months complied with city and state medical marijuana regulations and let them keep their crop.

Delivery services bring pot to patients' doors, and one politician is exploring ways for the city to distribute and tax medical marijuana itself.

So it has surprised some that since arriving from Mesa, Ariz., in August, Gascon has launched his tenure as chief with multiple initiatives taking on the drug trade. He endured online jeering after it was reported that during his first tour of the city as chief, he was amazed to see drugs dealt openly in the Tenderloin, a district well-known as a magnet for addicts.

But Gascon said the crackdown on grow houses in the Sunset has nothing to do with a political stance on pot.

"This is not an argument about legalization or not legalization. This is really about public safety," Gascon said. "Quite frankly, we could end up burning an entire city block."

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.