CITY: PRIVATE POT SALES NOT ALLOWED

Council Says Letting Clubs Peddle Marijuana Would Invite Fed Crackdown

OAKLAND -- Measure Z, which made private, adult use of cannabis the
Police Department's lowest law enforcement priority, does not allow
commercial sales of the drug at private clubs, the City Council
decided Tuesday.

Brimming with outrage, more than a dozen supporters of the measure --
passed with 65.2 percent of the vote in November 2004 -- accused
council members of thwarting the will of the voters by narrowing the
measure's scope.

But a majority of the council decided allowing private clubs to sell
cannabis to adults would threaten the city's medical marijuana
dispensaries by inviting the federal government to crack down on Oakland.

"It would be an enforcement nightmare," said Councilmember Jean Quan
(Montclair-Laurel).

Councilmembers Nancy Nadel (Downtown-West Oakland) and Desley Brooks
(Eastmont-Seminary) voted no, and Vice Mayor Jane Brunner (North
Oakland) abstained.

Nadel and Brooks said they favored referring the matter to the
Measure Z oversight committee to craft a definition of private
marijuana use, cultivation, sale, possession and distribution under
the ordinance.

"We have to have facilities where adults can use cannabis like they
can drink cocktails and smoke cigars elsewhere in the city of
Oakland," said Dale Gieringer of California NORMAL.

Richard Lee, the owner of SR 71, one of the city's medical marijuana
dispensaries, said private clubs have been operating since the
passage of Measure Z.

"Work with us," Lee said.

Measure Z also requires the city to lobby the state to legalize adult
possession, cultivation, distribution and use of marijuana and set up
a system to tax and regulate the sale of the drug if it is
decriminalized. City Attorney John Russo has ruled those provisions
unenforceable.

The 11-member oversight committee finally has enough members to meet,
14 months after the election.

Councilmember Larry Reid (Elmhurst-East Oakland) and Quan have not
made their appointments, City Clerk LaTonda Simmons said.

Susan Stephenson of the Oakland Civil Liberties Alliance said she is
eager for the committee to start work and compile data from the
Oakland Police Department to determine whether marijuana-related
arrests have declined under Measure Z.

"We're weighing our options," Stephenson said.

The council also directed City Administrator Deborah Edgerly to
expedite any requests for two unused medical marijuana dispensary
permits. Two of the four clubs permitted in Oakland were recently
closed down for a variety of code violations, Edgerly said.