AREA POT CLUBS HANDED MIXED BAG

Sheriff's Department Approves Two More Permits And Denies Three
Others

After years of sneers that selling medical marijuana is a back-alley
operation, Adele Morgan felt vindicated Thursday.

The owner of We Are Hemp on Lewelling Boulevard in Cherryland got an
early Christmas present: an Alameda County Sheriff's Department
letter stating her business has tentative approval for a permit to
sell medical marijuana in unincorporated areas.

"I am glad, and I do feel vindicated, in a sense," said Morgan, who
opened her storefront business five years ago, after 29 years as a
nurse and seven years with the county probation department.

"We have been here so long, and have been no trouble," she explained.
"I have a clean, clean background; we cater to older people here."

Thursday was a day of contrasts for the six existing dispensaries
competing for the three prized permits:

- - The Garden of Eden on Foothill Boulevard in Cherryland also
received a letter of tentative approval, along with We Are Hemp and
the previously-notified Compassionate Collective of Alameda County
on Mission Boulevard in Cherryland.

- - A Natural Source on Foothill Boulevard in Ashland got the
equivalent of a lump of coal. The sheriff's department cited the
dispensary's proximity -- about a block -- from a Montessori school
as the reason for denying its permit application. It has 10 days to
appeal the denial to a panel of county administrators.

Sheriff's Captain Dale Amaral said location only, and not criminal
problems -- including the shooting death of a suspected robber
outside A Natural Sourcelast August -- was behind the denial.

- - Amaral said The Health Center and Alameda County Resource Center,
both on East 14th Street in Ashland, may be able to ask county
supervisors to overturn denials by the sheriff's department and
administrative panel as soon as Jan. 10.

Both cannabis clubs were denied permits because they are too close to
schools and an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting hall. Restrictions cited
in the medical marijuana ordinance adopted by supervisors last
summer, and revised this fall, limit dispensaries from locating near
educational sites -- a 1,000-foot buffer zone is required -- and
community facilities as well as other marijuana sales outlets.

The next hurdle

The ordinance identifies three specific zones in the unincorporated
area where each of the three permitted clubs can operate.

The first zone includes San Lorenzo and a narrow strip of Cherryland
running east along Interstate 238. The second zone covers portions of
Ashland west of Interstate 580 and the southernmost areas of
Cherryland. Ashland south of

I-580 and Castro Valley make up the third zone.

We Are Hemp appears to be the only dispensary in the first area,
while both the Compassionate Collective and Garden of Eden are in the
second area.

If A Natural Source's denial is upheld on appeal, there would be no
existing marijuana sales outlet in the third area. This area --
Castro Valley in particular -- interests medical marijuana sellers
who want to come to Alameda County. In October 2004, supervisors
banned any more dispensaries while the ordinance was being prepared.

"We have gotten calls from outside vendors who want to come in, and
the community they ask about is Castro Valley," Amaral said. "We are
not accepting applications from any other businesses than the six we
now are processing."