Council members say they will stay out of staff’s way as they
make a decision regarding an application for the county’s first
medical marijuana dispensary in north Gilroy.
Council members say they will stay out of staff’s way as they make a decision regarding an application for the county’s first medical marijuana dispensary in north Gilroy. Meanwhile, police are still investigating the federal implications of allowing a dispensary, which would not likely have a significant impact on crime, according to data from similar cities and law enforcement.
Gilroy’s potential business, MediLeaf, could land at 1207 First St., near Togo’s and First Street Coffee, if city staff sign off on the business application. The applicants are Morgan Hill residents and real estate professionals Batzi Kuburovich and Neil Forrest. Medical marijuana is allowed – tacitly or overtly – at the state and local level, but prohibited at the federal level, which, along with the possibility of increased crime, is what Gilroy police and opponents here are most concerned about. Opponents also worry people will simply feign symptoms to acquire prescriptions.
Proponents, including many Gilroyans, say the dispensary 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 changes since those businesses opened.
Tulare – a city of about 52,000 just 45 miles southeast of Fresno with similar agricultural roots as Gilroy’s – allowed two medical marijuana dispensaries to open in 2006 and 2008. Since they opened, police reported only one break-in, Tulare Police Department Capt. Jerry Breckinridge said. A couple of non-drug related assaults have also occurred, but nothing like the “riffraff” or rampant crime people in the relatively conservative city once feared, he and others said.
“All the controversy has died down. We just really haven’t had any incidents with either clinic,” said Tulare Mayor Craig Vejvoda, whose financial advisor’s office sits across the street from one of the dispensaries.
Most authorities in metropolitan areas such as San Francisco and Los Angeles reported a similar lack of dispensary-related crime. More than 200 dispensaries operate in the greater Los Angeles area, and aside from occasional raids on dispensaries by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency – which U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has ordered to be relaxed even as his office prosecutes earlier marijuana cases – the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has not noticed an uptick in crime associated with the shops.
“The medical marijuana dispensaries in our jurisdiction have been relatively benign,” L.A. Sheriff Spokesperson Steve Whitmore said. “We don’t have (break-ins or assaults), and we have a very open-door relationship with the businesses because the sheriff believes it’s important to be a part of the community and not just an enforcer.”
Californians approved a medical marijuana bill in 1996 that allows the possession and cultivation of medical marijuana for people with proper prescriptions, but federal law views the plant as illegal – a point that rattles Gilroy police officers and Councilman Bob Dillon. Neither Santa Clara County nor Gilroy have any legislation on the books, but local council members, including Dillon, said they were disinclined to create a Gilroy ordinance in the absence of any residential outcry.
“We need to let the process go through,” Councilman Craig Gartman said.
The application would only go before the Planning Commission and City Council if a community member with a vested or nearby business interest appealed MediLeaf’s potential approval. Staff could also hinge any approval on operating conditions similar to those for liquor stores.
To avoid the proliferation of dispensaries in its city, Tulare’s City Council passed a law limiting them to one per 25,000 residents. In Goleta – a city of about 59,000 just west of Santa Barbara – the council has expressed support for medical marijuana, but the body voted unanimously earlier this month in favor of a law banning dispensaries while it considers more specific regulations. In the meantime, Gilroy officials seem posed to play it by ear.
“I haven’t heard any reason why the council should get involved,” Councilman Perry Woodward said. “As far as I understand it, this is a lawful business and doesn’t present any issues that wouldn’t be presented if someone wanted to open a pharmacy.”
Not so, said Gary Stutheit, owner and operator of Gilroy Medical Pharmacy at the corner of Sixth and Princevalle streets. The friendly apothecary isn’t opposed to medical marijuana in principle, but he said he would never sell any because it violates federal law and he has heard of nothing but problems.
“I really think these places get out of hand and turn into money-makers, and people abuse the system with phony prescriptions and sell the drugs on the street,” Stutheit said. He pointed to the Oct. 2008 arrest of Adroa Anderson, a Santa Cruz man who used a doctor-prescribed medical marijuana card to buy marijuana he then repackaged and sold on the streets – racking up $100,000 and four guns over a two year period – police said. Anderson remains in jail, according to records.
“It’s inviting more criminal activity there, and we probably don’t need that right now,” Stutheit said. Burglars have broken into his store “a couple of times over the years,” he said.
Currently, residents who have prescriptions have to drive to Redwood City, Millbrae, Oakland, San Francisco or Santa Cruz to purchase medical marijuana, which dispensaries buy from private, licensed 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 an extra $37 per ounce for unspecified taxes. Any profit will pay off overhead, said Kuburovich. Legal marijuana comes in all types, similar to tea, and is typically bottled in orange plastic vials. Dispensaries – as with any other prescription drug distributor – do not charge sales tax.
