SF’s “Green Cross” is Cream of the Crop
July 3rd, 2009 by Russ
As California’s Great Weed Experiment of Ought Nine continues, some truly innovative dispensaries have begun to make a name for themselves. One such outfit, is the San Fransisco based “Green Cross,” earned a recent feature in the San Jose Mercury News.
Run Fight Club-style out of a single Victorian house on Howard Street, 19 space monkeys work around the clock baking edibles, and preparing the 55 delicious strains of green that the dispensary stocks its shelves with. A messenger delivery service runs from noon until 7pm. Even folks who are outside the delivery area meet the bikers halfway.
The Green Cross has its own newsletter, touting the relative benefits of indica and sativa strains, and recommending vaporizers and edibles for those bothered by smoke.
The whole operation has the flavor of a Baskin & Robbins, or Ben & Jerry’s origin story. It’s easy to picture a future in which a whitewashed marijuana conglomerate happily provides the best processed ganja to satisfied customers all over the world. The innovation and professionalism of groups like the GC make one wonder whether we’re just now on the ground floor of something big.
LA City Council to Kibosh Weed Dispensaries
June 9th, 2009 by RussThings are about to get mighty interesting in the City of Angels. After a two-year city-wide free for all in which weed storefronts have become more plentiful than Starbucks, the LA City Council has decided to strike back against the dispensaries by retroactively reviewing their application paperwork.
The dispute is over a legal loophole that allowed dispensaries to freely open during a two-year moratorium passed by the City Council. Under the less than watchful eye of the Planning and Land Use Management Committee, any applicant claiming any kind of hardship was granted permission to open up shop.
After a great deal of public pressure, the City Council has now reversed course away from its blissful ignorance and is attempting to re-seal a Pandora’s Box that has made LA weed storefronts more common than Starbucks franchises.
Starting this week, the Council is going to be dealing with the hardship applicants on a case by case basis. In other words, there is a very real possibility that the city of Los Angeles is about to start shutting down dozens (if not hundreds) of newly minted businesses in the midst of a severe recession.
Given that most of the store operators were under the assumption that the Council had approved the new Weed Gold Rush, having given their tacit approval of the loophole for two years, things may get a bit heated.
The whole situation reminds me of that old joke: What’s the difference between a lightbulb and a pregnant woman? You can unscrew a lightbulb. I’m not so sure that Los Angeles can unscrew itself from the new economic reality it has created.
Stoners Still Demonized by Hypocritical Minority
May 27th, 2009 by Russ
As the medical marijuana movement gains traction in the West, some formerly reclusive smokers are boldly revealing themselves to an intolerant minority. This week, Steve Elliot’s moving piece in the SFWeekly targeted some of the “anti-marijuana zealots” most popular tactics against medical herb patients.
One tool of the intolerant is the business community practice of mandatory drug testing. Workplace drug testing practice has spread exponentially since the early 1980s despite a complete lack of evidence proving any effectiveness at all. In fact, the most cited statistics used by the drug testing purveyors appeared in a 1972 anti-drug newsletter. There has never been a proven link between workplace drug testing and increased productivity.
In fact, most businesses spend upwards of $77,000 per test, despite the fact that the process is rife with false positives, false negatives, and makes no distinction between at home drug use and on the job drug use. Most often, drug testing simply encourages drug users to switch from more easily detectable drugs (weed, which can be detected for six weeks after use) to much more dangerous substances (cocaine and meth pass through the body in two days or less.)
It is simply by virtue of an effective drug testing industry marketing campaign that businesses have been duped into creating a climate of discrimination against weed smokers. Much like the rest of the anti-drug lobby, facts, evidence, and critical thinking don’t come into play.
It’s time for the business community to realize that medical marijuana users are not only backed by the state government, but completely righteous in their use. There is no moral or legal distinction between them and other workers who may take antidepressants, high cholesterol pills, or an evening brandy.
The only distinction is a physiological one; that is the weed smokers are less likely to be addicted to their medicine than virtually any prescription-toters in the company.
LA Sees Weed Dispensary Boom
May 20th, 2009 by RussIt seems that Los Angeles will be the first US test-case city for legalization. This isn’t because of any recently passed referendum, or new decriminalization ordinance; it’s simply due to the city’s laissez-faire attitude towards the opening of weed-selling storefronts.
According to the LAist, Los Angeles remains the only city in California that imposes no taxes or start up fees onto prospective weed dispensaries. By contrast, San Fransisco applicants pay $8,400 to open a shop, and Oakland dispensaries are charged upwards of $30,000 in yearly fees.
Combined with a legal loophole that allows new dispensaries to open upon claiming any kind of “hardship” to get around wait lists and zoning regulations, there is literally a completely open market for Angelino medical herb. Hundreds upon hundreds of weed shops are opening up in Los Angeles, and by unofficial counts have out-expanded Starbucks.
One would think that conservative economists and Adam Smith disciples would be keenly interested in Los Angeles’s weed experiement. Given the economic forces of nature at hand, this de facto legalization of weed has created the only sector of any economy that can claim a full-fledged boom.
U.S. Attorney and ASA Chief Counsel Lock Horns
April 13th, 2009 by Eric
Last Wednesday, federal prosecutors and an attorney for American’s for Safe Access (ASA), a marijuana advocacy group, faced off in the bay area. For the feds, U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello faced off against ASA’s Chief Counsel Joe Elford at the University of California Hastings College of Law.
Russoniello is in his second term as U.S. Attorney in Northern California, and is in charge of the Barry Bonds steroids case. He insists that his office’s priorities will not be medical marijuana patients or dispensaries, and vows to focus on more pressing issues; like national security, gun control, and child porn.
But Russoniello admits to having a “cynical view of Prop 215,” and while he said there is “little likelihood” dispensaries will continue to be raided, he also clearly said that “if you’re in the business of selling marijuana for profit, you’re in harm’s way.”
The battle between the lawyering Joe’s ended predictably, without any substantial results or either side making concessions, but at least the conversation is happening. And it seems to be taking place much more frequently under the current administration.
