TWO POT CLUBS LOSE APPEALS TO STAY OPEN

OAKLAND -- Two medical marijuana dispensaries in Alameda County have
been told to shut down within 10 days or seek a last-minute reprieve
from the county Board of Supervisors, officials said Tuesday.

An ad-hoc committee of county officials this week rejected requests
by the two pot clubs near San Leandro to overturn shut-down orders
issued by the county sheriff's office last month, County Counsel
Richard Winnie said.

The Alameda County Resource Center and the Health Center, both on
East 14th Street in the county's unincorporated Ashland area,
appealed the shut-down orders to the ad-hoc panel, which held a
hearing in Castro Valley last week to consider the matter.

But the panel is sending the two businesses letters this week
informing them it agrees with findings that the clubs violate key
provisions of a county dispensary law passed in June.

County officials determined the Health Center violates the new law by
being within 1,000 feet of two neighborhood schools.

The Alameda County Resource Center, meanwhile, was found to be in
violation of a provision banning pot clubs near "drug recovery
facilities." The club is located next door to an Alcoholics Anonymous
fellowship hall.

Operators of the Resource Center had argued that the fellowship hall
is more a social club than drug recovery center. That argument
apparently didn't wash with the appeals panel, composed of
representatives from the county administrator's office, sheriff's
office, health department and community development agency.

"There was some conflict (within the panel) over that particular
issue," said sheriff's Capt. William Eskridge, who chaired the
appeals panel. "It wasn't an absolute thing. We had a lot of discussion."

Neither Jack Norton, owner of the Health Center, nor Paul Baerwald,
owner of the Resource Center, could be reached for comment Tuesday.

The letters sent to the businesses this week inform them they have 10
days to file a final appeal to the county Board of Supervisors, or
cease operations.

County officials said they anticipate the clubs will appeal the
findings, and that county supervisors will convene a hearing to
decide the matter either at the end of this month or in January.