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3 marijuana clinics told to close
Dispensaries fail to meet deadline for applying for permits

Karen Holzmeister Oakland Tribune

Alameda County, CA Sept 2, 2005 -- By Oct. 1, three medical marijuana dispensaries in Ashland and Cherryland could disappear like a puff of smoke.

The cannabis clubs, half of those currently operating in the unincorporated county, got orders Thursday to close down after not applying earlier this week for permanent operating permits.

The letters were signed by Alameda County Sheriff Charles Plummer, an outspoken foe of marijuana dispensaries.

If the doors don't close, sheriff's Capt. Stephen Roderick said, these businesses face misdemeanor charges of violating the medical marijuana ordinance adopted in June by county supervisors.

The two Cherryland businesses are We Are Hemp at 913 E. Lewelling Blvd. and Garden of Eden, 21227 Foothill Blvd.

The Ashland business is A Natural Source at 16360 Foothill Blvd., the site of an Aug. 19 shootout in which one of the five gunmen was killed.

The three remaining marijuana sales outlets, which met Tuesday's permit application deadline, can remain open while county administrators review the applications. A recommendation is expected in the fall on which, if any, of these clinics should receive two-year marijuana sales permits.

The letter came as a shock to Adele Morgan, a co-owner of We Are Hemp.

Morgan's five-year-old business is the oldest medical marijuana clinic in southern Alameda County's unincorporated communities. She already was reeling over what she said was a misunderstanding that led to her failure to meet Tuesday's application deadline.

"I thought applications were on hold," Morgan, a retired nurse, said Thursday afternoon. "I just needed an extension to get the money for the application and my rent," amounting — she added — to $4,000 for application-related expenses and $3,000 for her monthly rent.

The message machine was on at the Garden of Eden on Thursday afternoon, while a man answering the telephone at A Natural Source said the business owner was away.

Oakland attorney Dennis Roberts, who said earlier this week that he represented the three clinics that did not submit applications, pledged to file suit against the county unless it extended the application deadline and removed some of its questions for personal information.

Morgan said Thursday that Roberts does not represent her and that she only authorized him to write a letter on her behalf requesting an extension.

County supervisors, frustrated by the number of medical marijuana dispensaries that had sprouted up in unincorporated areas during the last two years, voted in June to create an ordinance that limits the allowable number of dispensaries to three.

In the fall, when the pre-ordinance study started, there were seven dispensaries in the unincorporated areas. New clinics were banned while ordinance regulations were researched and, in the interim, one of the Ashland clinics closed.

The ordinance allowed operating dispensaries in unincorporated areas to have the first opportunity to get the three coveted permits.

The application period opened July 21, and Roderick said sheriff's representatives were "up front" about the application process.

"It is not our policy to trick anybody," Roderick said Thursday.

Roderick said earlier this week that his department is not inclined to change the application deadline.