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August 18, 2009

Walnut Creek becomes latest East Bay suburb to adopt emergency pot club moratorium

The Walnut Creek City Council voted at an emergency meeting Tuesday to institute a temporary 45-day ban on the opening of medical marijuana dispensaries in town. The meeting was hastily called after the city received an application from a group called C3 Collective to open a dispensary on Oakland Boulevard. It was the city's first proposed pot club. With the city having no ordinances as of yet to regulate such businesses, the council decided to institute a 45-day ban, to allow staff and police time to study the issue.

The Contra Costa Times and ABC7 News
says that many spoke at the emergency meeting in favor of allowing a medical marijuana club to open in Walnut Creek. One of those was Councilman Bob Simmons, whose son is a cancer survivor. He said it "inexcusable" to tell people with serious illnesses allowing them to use medical marijuana that they have to drive all the way into Oakland or San Francisco to fill prescriptions allowed under law. You can view Simmons' statements in this ABC7news.com report.

The blogger, the East Bay Daze, reported, that C3 Collective has already been dispensing marijuana at the Oakland Boulevard shop in exchange for "donations." This non-profit wellness center, as it describes itself, opened just recently and said it offered "patrons yoga lessons and acupuncture," as well as marijuana to those in need.

The East Bay Daze says that the operator of this dispensary has already tried to open up shop in Orinda and in Lafayette, where moratoriums were likewise imposed and approved.

5 comments:

obiwan said...

I can't believe that a medical marijuana dispensing operation would create anywhere near the problems that occur late every night downtown because of all the bars and "restaurant" liquor dispensaries that the City has approved over the years.

Anonymous said...

Put the stuff in a pharmacy. Although, I can't do yoga high at Long's.

The pot clubs are regulated, by regulators, which will be added to our ever increasing tax bill. Get some efficiences by using existing pharmacies.

Anonymous said...

Kudos to Bob Simmons for speaking out. Patients in need will go to Oakland and beyond so why not have folks shop locally as we hear from the city leaders when it comes to cars etc.. Perhaps an additional local tax/fee can be added to augment city coffers as other cities are considering. Lets hope the City Council decides in favor within 45 days and not delay, delay in the hopes it will go away.

Anonymous said...

Pot clubs will bring crime into neighborhoods. Once word gets out about a pot club, criminals will come and try to rob it. The criminals will also stake out the club and try to rob the customers as they come out. Pot clubs make a lot of money and it is all paid for in cash. It is a danger to the neighborhood and anyone who lives in the surrounding area.

Anonymous said...

Why does Walnut Creek always seem to run in crisis mode? This whole showdown could have been avoided had our council and staff planned ahead instead of waiting for such an event to happen. There is a reason that council and staff go to meetings with other city council and staffs and that is to learn about problems that occur in other cities. What is wrong with our city attorney that he didn't see this coming? Guess this is why is took almost 2 years for the city to finally pass an ordinance that controls and licenses massage parlors, long after the police alerted them to an existing problem
in our fair city with prostitution.

Bless Mr. Simmons' son for surviving cancer and I wish him good health in the future. However, the fact is......California's pot laws are not legal according to federal law and our city can't afford to get involved in any more lawsuits at this point in time.

Medical marijuana should be dispensed by a physician through licensed pharmacies if it is necessary. At least then there would be some control over what constitutes a true need for the drug just like there is for other prescription pain meds.