A month and a half after Police Chief Denise Turner rejected an
application to open the county’s first medical marijuana clinic in
Gilroy because of federal restrictions, the city council voted 6-1
to direct staff to generate local regulations for consideration,
giving Medileaf’s diligent applicants room to breathe for now.
A month and a half after Police Chief Denise Turner rejected an application to open the county’s first medical marijuana clinic in Gilroy because of federal restrictions, the city council voted 6-1 to direct staff to generate local regulations for consideration, giving Medileaf’s diligent applicants room to breathe for now.
State law permits medical marijuana, but federal law prohibits it. No county or local laws address the issue, which leaves council members in a legal no man’s land they vowed to navigate starting in September, after their month-long summer recess.
Councilman Bob Dillon was the lone dissenting vote Monday night, citing the federal government’s supreme jurisdiction against marijuana and the mercurial political will of the U.S. Attorney General’s office.
“I don’t like the idea of the Feds coming down here and arresting people … I just don’t see this as an ethical medication,” Dillon said, adding that prescribing marijuana differs from other medications that physicians regulate through dosage and consumption imperatives.
Councilman Peter Arellano, a local physician who works for Kaiser-Permanente, countered that medical marijuana should not be cast aside as a freak drug beyond control given the state and federal governments’ regulations over alcohol and tobacco. Laws barring people from drinking in public should serve as examples for laws barring people from smoking marijuana in public. It’s the same idea, Arellano said before mentioning the corruptible powers of legal prescription drugs. Councilman Perry Woodward said he agreed with Arellano’s points.
“Do we want the government to say or regulate what happens between a patient and their doctor? That’s the basic issue,” Arellano said. “A lot of people can abuse legal medications. Any drug has the potential of being abused … but if we look at (Medileaf’s application) and put down a good policy, a good ordinance, I think we can have something that’s a win-win for everyone.”
While staff works on filling the local legal vacuum, Medileaf co-applicant Batzi Kuburovich smiled and offered only a brief statement after Monday night’s meeting: “God bless the city council, and I love Gilroy.”
Along with fellow Morgan Hill real estate professional Neil Forrest and the pair’s Oakland-based marijuana lawyer, James Anthony, Kuburovich is trying to open Medileaf at 7581 Monterey St., near Fourth Street and next to Pinnacle Bank. The original proposed location was 1207 First St., near Togo’s and First Street Coffee.
Dispensary proponents, including many Gilroyans, say the business will decrease street-level sales and associated crime while providing a service to people with debilitating ailments. They also point to statistics from cities with medical marijuana businesses that show crime trends have not seen any major increases since those businesses opened. However, opponents, including Turner, argue crime will increase and that residents will feign symptoms to obtain prescriptions so they can sell the drug on the streets.
From small, agrarian-based cities like Tulare to metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles – where more than 200 dispensaries operate in the greater area – law officials, backed by federal statistics, said they have not noticed an uptick in crime associated with the shops since Californians approved medical marijuana in 1996.
California law allows the possession and cultivation of medical marijuana for people with proper prescriptions, but federal law views the drug as completely illegal. Neither Santa Clara County nor Gilroy have any legislation on the books, and Mayor Al Pinheiro said he recently spoke with the mayors of Tulare and Santa Cruz, both of whom told him that thoughtful regulations – such as one clinic per 25,000 residents – have prevented their worst nightmares from coming true.
Also there Monday night to testify to this was Scott Wade, general manager of Delta IX, a private security firm that secures Greenway, a medical marijuana facility in Santa Cruz.
“We’ve actually taken control of the neighborhood and done our part to police the area,” Wade said, adding that his firm has already completed a security plan for Medileaf. “We have had zero instances with our dispensaries (in Santa Cruz). There’s no smoking outside. We check their recommendations, their drivers’ licenses … and we’d be more than happy to work with police here and report to city council on an ongoing basis.”
Currently, residents who have legitimate prescriptions have to drive to Redwood City, Millbrae, Oakland, San Francisco or Santa Cruz to purchase medical marijuana, which dispensaries buy from private growers who usually sell a pound for $3,500 to $4,000, Kuburovich said. A store-bought ounce, in turn, goes for about $400 – or about $6,400 per pound – excluding the extra $37 per ounce for taxes. Any profit will pay off overhead, said Kuburovich, and not line his or Forrest’s pockets. Legal marijuana comes in all types, similar to tea, and are typically bottled in orange plastic vials.
Kelley-Jo Wendlandt showed up with her husband and legal caretaker, Greg Wendlandt, Monday night to advocate Medileaf’s application. For the past 20 years, Kelley-Jo Wendlandt has struggled with a debilitating and worsening spinal condition. Pills work to a certain extent, but for the past eight years she has smoked medical marijuana or eaten marijuana-laced brownies to relieve the pain. Of course, that’s only after strapping herself into a makeshift bed in the back of her car. Stiffened by a torso cast that slows her stroll and accompanied by her husband’s hand beneath her elbow, Kelley-Jo Wendlandt implored the council to think about her and other locals who have to drive beyond Gilroy to obtain their legal prescriptions.
“It’s a pain in the ass,” Kelley-Jo Wendlandt said outside the council chambers after the 6-1 vote. Minutes before, she told the council she takes “a lot of medication, but marijuana is the one that helps me very much.”
Before the vote, the council watched a CBS “60 Minutes” special on medical marijuana that addressed criminal concerns and break-ins at dispensaries. Afterward, Turner cited recent marijuana-related arrests in the community.
While originally against Medileaf, Councilman Dion Bracco said Monday he was on the fence.
“The more I’ve learned about it, the softer I’ve gotten,” Bracco said, adding that he hasn’t made up his mind because of concern of possible abuse.
Medileaf attorney James Anthony replied that his clients were striving to be “good neighbors” and chided Turner’s report as containing “misinterpretation(s) of state law” and “several false assertions showing either an ignorance of the law or perhaps some degree of bias.”
Council member Cat Tucker seemed to lean toward favoring the application, but she admitted that either side of the aisle can cherry pick the right science.
“This is one of those things that everyone has an opinion on. The data can go for or against,” Tucker said. “I’ve talked with community members, and the majority of people are in favor of this, I believe.”
