Weedpipe
Active Member
Their businesses stand no more than a hundred feet apart, at opposite ends of a small commercial strip. Neatly dressed, with her blond hair just so, Sue Campbell has run the Alphabet Soup Preschool for 29 years. At Purple People Medical, a medical marijuana dispensary two doors down from the school, Andrew Runner welcomes patients wearing baggy jeans and spectacular tats.
Recently, as Runner, 28, emerged from the back room of the cannabis co-op, his eyes were slightly bleary and bloodshot. As Campbell talked about the arrival of her new neighbor a month ago, her eyes brimmed with tears. Each is affable, except when talking about the other.
Together, they form a microcosm of an uneasy, often unruly merger of medicinal marijuana collectives with neighborhoods that don't want them.
"I think it's going to put me out of business, definitely," Campbell said, dabbing her eyes occasionally as 3-year-olds wove around her on tricycles. She was named the city's Teacher of the Year in 2006, but now she isn't sure she will be able to remain open.
She said she had already lost a couple of prospective pupils whose parents were scared off by the cannabis club. "On one hand, they honor me," she said of the city. "And on the other, the city is failing me. This can't be next to a preschool."
Campbell and Runner are both expected to attend a meeting at City Hall on Monday for so-called stakeholders in this push-me, pull-you municipal merengue.
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City Attorney Rick Doyle and staff from the city manager's office have not yet drafted an ordinance regulating marijuana collectives but will offer a rough outline of what issues the future ordinance will tackle.
"We're trying to craft something with clear rules that will allow these clubs to exist," Doyle said. "A lot of cities are just saying, 'We don't want 'em,' but that seems like the easy way out. Our council wants to allow them as long as they comply with state law, but that's been a tougher nut to crack than we thought."
Councilman Sam Liccardo, who voted with the majority to initiate the review, would prefer to see marijuana distributed through pharmacies but sounds resigned to regulation that would cap the number of collectives and restrict where they could be located. Within a few feet of a preschool almost certainly wouldn't be allowed in any ordinance he'd vote for.
Doyle may push for an "urgency ordinance," customarily used to protect the public's health and safety, at the council's June 22 meeting. Doyle counted aloud the number of cannabis club ads in a local tabloid, then said, "We need to have a regulation to deal with the proliferation of these clubs. This is getting out of control."
The city's desire for speed without a substantive ordinance has frustrated some people. "It feels like we're being railroaded in a dark room," said James Anthony, consultant for a coalition of San Jose cannabis collectives called MC3. "If we're going to discuss it, it would be nice to be able to see it."
Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio drafted a regulatory proposal last fall, but city government didn't take action until March 30, when Doyle and City Manager Debra Figone were directed to come up with something the council could vote on.
"I think in hindsight people wish they had tackled this back in October," Oliverio said. "Back then, we had maybe two of these collectives. Now we have 60. Now we're going to have to go through the legal wrangling of closing quite a few."
It would be fine with Oliverio, Doyle and even the cannabis coalition if small dispensaries such as Runner's were put out of business by the proposed ordinance. Security at small dispensaries is a growing concern following an armed robbery at one last month, and the city has a preference for large collectives that use cash registers and accept credit cards all the better to track taxes they will owe, Liccardo said.
All of which mystifies Runner, who says he's been dreaming of opening a marijuana dispensary since he was 18. "My grandmother died of cancer, and before she passed, I was like, 'Smoke up,' " he recalled. "So I got into the movement really early. I'm of the people and for the people."
Runner says his choice of location on De Anza Boulevard wasn't because it would put him next door to Monsters of Rock, a head shop that moved next to Alphabet Soup in December and which Campbell would also like to see disappear. "That's kind of like a plus," Runner said.
He knew there was a preschool there, but didn't expect to find himself confronted one day by its owners, who accused him of "selling drugs," he said.
"To tell the truth, I didn't think it would be that big of a deal," Runner said. "There are children present, sure, but there's no smoking or ingesting medication here on the premises, so there's no effect on the kids." He pointed to a liquor store and a bar nearby. "I figure there's other businesses that could have worse effects than mine," he said.
Liccardo would like to see the issue resolved "quickly" so it can be brought before the council Aug. 3 for a vote, then put on the November ballot.
"If we don't severely restrict where and how medicinal marijuana is distributed in the city, we're going to see several decades of effort to preserve the quality of life in our neighborhoods go up in smoke," Liccardo said. "Literally."
--------------------------------------
if you"re going
A meeting about the proposed medical marijuana ordinance will be open to the public from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday in the City Council chamber, 200 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose.
News Forum: rollitup.org
Source: San Jose Mercury News
Author: Bruce Newman
Contact: San Jose Mercury News
Copyright: 2010 - San Jose Mercury News
Website: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15231395
Recently, as Runner, 28, emerged from the back room of the cannabis co-op, his eyes were slightly bleary and bloodshot. As Campbell talked about the arrival of her new neighbor a month ago, her eyes brimmed with tears. Each is affable, except when talking about the other.
Together, they form a microcosm of an uneasy, often unruly merger of medicinal marijuana collectives with neighborhoods that don't want them.
"I think it's going to put me out of business, definitely," Campbell said, dabbing her eyes occasionally as 3-year-olds wove around her on tricycles. She was named the city's Teacher of the Year in 2006, but now she isn't sure she will be able to remain open.
She said she had already lost a couple of prospective pupils whose parents were scared off by the cannabis club. "On one hand, they honor me," she said of the city. "And on the other, the city is failing me. This can't be next to a preschool."
Campbell and Runner are both expected to attend a meeting at City Hall on Monday for so-called stakeholders in this push-me, pull-you municipal merengue.
Advertisement
City Attorney Rick Doyle and staff from the city manager's office have not yet drafted an ordinance regulating marijuana collectives but will offer a rough outline of what issues the future ordinance will tackle.
"We're trying to craft something with clear rules that will allow these clubs to exist," Doyle said. "A lot of cities are just saying, 'We don't want 'em,' but that seems like the easy way out. Our council wants to allow them as long as they comply with state law, but that's been a tougher nut to crack than we thought."
Councilman Sam Liccardo, who voted with the majority to initiate the review, would prefer to see marijuana distributed through pharmacies but sounds resigned to regulation that would cap the number of collectives and restrict where they could be located. Within a few feet of a preschool almost certainly wouldn't be allowed in any ordinance he'd vote for.
Doyle may push for an "urgency ordinance," customarily used to protect the public's health and safety, at the council's June 22 meeting. Doyle counted aloud the number of cannabis club ads in a local tabloid, then said, "We need to have a regulation to deal with the proliferation of these clubs. This is getting out of control."
The city's desire for speed without a substantive ordinance has frustrated some people. "It feels like we're being railroaded in a dark room," said James Anthony, consultant for a coalition of San Jose cannabis collectives called MC3. "If we're going to discuss it, it would be nice to be able to see it."
Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio drafted a regulatory proposal last fall, but city government didn't take action until March 30, when Doyle and City Manager Debra Figone were directed to come up with something the council could vote on.
"I think in hindsight people wish they had tackled this back in October," Oliverio said. "Back then, we had maybe two of these collectives. Now we have 60. Now we're going to have to go through the legal wrangling of closing quite a few."
It would be fine with Oliverio, Doyle and even the cannabis coalition if small dispensaries such as Runner's were put out of business by the proposed ordinance. Security at small dispensaries is a growing concern following an armed robbery at one last month, and the city has a preference for large collectives that use cash registers and accept credit cards all the better to track taxes they will owe, Liccardo said.
All of which mystifies Runner, who says he's been dreaming of opening a marijuana dispensary since he was 18. "My grandmother died of cancer, and before she passed, I was like, 'Smoke up,' " he recalled. "So I got into the movement really early. I'm of the people and for the people."
Runner says his choice of location on De Anza Boulevard wasn't because it would put him next door to Monsters of Rock, a head shop that moved next to Alphabet Soup in December and which Campbell would also like to see disappear. "That's kind of like a plus," Runner said.
He knew there was a preschool there, but didn't expect to find himself confronted one day by its owners, who accused him of "selling drugs," he said.
"To tell the truth, I didn't think it would be that big of a deal," Runner said. "There are children present, sure, but there's no smoking or ingesting medication here on the premises, so there's no effect on the kids." He pointed to a liquor store and a bar nearby. "I figure there's other businesses that could have worse effects than mine," he said.
Liccardo would like to see the issue resolved "quickly" so it can be brought before the council Aug. 3 for a vote, then put on the November ballot.
"If we don't severely restrict where and how medicinal marijuana is distributed in the city, we're going to see several decades of effort to preserve the quality of life in our neighborhoods go up in smoke," Liccardo said. "Literally."
--------------------------------------
if you"re going
A meeting about the proposed medical marijuana ordinance will be open to the public from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday in the City Council chamber, 200 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose.
News Forum: rollitup.org
Source: San Jose Mercury News
Author: Bruce Newman
Contact: San Jose Mercury News
Copyright: 2010 - San Jose Mercury News
Website: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15231395