PLANNERS REJECT BAN OF MEDICAL POT SALES

Patients Sway Vote, Saying Nothing Else Offers Relief

If Modesto City Council members are determined to ban medical
marijuana sales Dec. 6, they'll have to do it without support from
city planning commissioners.

Many passionate people in Monday's crowded audience swayed a majority
of commissioners not to recommend that Modesto do away with a cannabis
re-tailer on McHenry Avenue, or outlaw medical marijuana. Several said
they get no relief from legally prescribed narcotics, and said they
don't want to drive to the Bay Area to obtain the only thing that
works - marijuana.

"These people have serious problems," commissioner Kent Newswander
said. "I can't see how we can turn our backs on these people in need.
I just can't do it."

Council members, who will have a final say in a couple of weeks,
earlier this year seemed eager to ban the drug with a moratorium,
buying them time to prepare the outright ban. Planning commissioners
got the first crack at it because the ordinance would rely on zoning
laws to prohibit medical marijuana sales.

Voting in the 5-2 minority Monday were commissioners Dave Cogdill Jr.
and Kristin Olsen. Cogdill's father is an assemblyman and Olsen is in
the Modesto City Council runoff race.

"I'm disappointed that the people in favor of the ban did not show up
tonight," Olsen said, looking out over a crowd of more than 100 who
attended Monday's meeting. "I admonish them to show up at the City
Council hearing so both sides can be heard."

Some of the other five commissioners said they sympathized with
speakers who came in droves to plead to keep open the California
Healthcare Collective, which opened in Modesto in early March.

"Nothing out there in pill form will help us," said Barbara Quast, a
breast cancer survivor who said she is allergic to most medications.
Withdrawals while trying to get off legal narcotics pushed her to
attempt suicide, she said.

Serena Gamboa said she has no appetite and can't sleep without
marijuana. She said banning the drug would force her to buy it
illegally on the street.

"Please do not turn us into criminals," Todd Die-tel pleaded. "Show
your compassion."

Dr. John Fichtenkort, an 18-year Modesto physician, said he writes
three or four letters per year as a last resort for patients who get
relief no other way. Many medicinal marijuana dispensaries require
customers to have a letter from a medical doctor saying they might
benefit from marijuana use.

Many of his colleagues do the same thing, he said.

"This is a normal practice," Fichtenkort said. He said he risked
negative consequences of speaking publicly because he "felt a duty" to
his few patients who use marijuana.

Speakers included Robert Raiche, whose lawsuit on behalf of his sick
wife spurred a landmark June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Though Raiche hoped to strengthen California's law allowing medical
marijuana, the high court did the opposite by allowing federal agents
to continue busting pot growers and sellers.

But the ruling also allowed states and local governments wiggle room.
Several cities, including Livingston, Manteca, Turlock and Merced,
adopted moratoriums to keep stores from opening.

Americans for Safe Access has sued others for similar bans, including
Fresno and Pasadena, Raiche said.

"You are inviting a lawsuit on your city if you adopt such an
ordinance," he told commissioners.

Modesto police Capt. Joel Broumas said authorities worry that
marijuana retailers could draw the wrong crowd. But police have not
documented any problems with the McHenry shop in nearly nine months,
he said.

That was enough to persuade some planning commissioners against
recommending the ban.

The Modesto City Council's Dec. 6 meeting is to start at 5:30 p.m. in
the basement chamber at Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St.