October 6, 2003

Rona Marech

sfgate.com

As the Oakland City Council revs up to crack down on downtown medical marijuana clubs, some neighborhood merchants are fighting back.

The newly formed Uptown Merchants Association -- so far comprising two pot clubs and five businesses unrelated to the dispensaries -- has banded together to lobby on behalf of the dozen dispensaries in the neighborhood. They say that regulation by the city is crucial but that the clubs should not be shut down because they bring desirable commercial activity to the blocks just north of City Hall.

"We support regulation. We support standards. We support city licensing. We support taxes," spokesman Kenny Mostern said. But they also support the dispensaries' right to operate.

"Until the dispensaries opened, the street was shut down, quiet and dirty," he said. "The dispensaries are the best thing that could have happened for the area." He is expecting the number of dispensaries and other businesses in the association to double in the next week.

City officials have said that until recently they were unaware that the pot clubs had been sprouting up in the neighborhood that some have dubbed "Oaksterdam," after the pot-tolerant city of Amsterdam.

The dispensaries are in legal limbo. Although the city and state consider them legal, the federal government does not.

At a City Council meeting in late September, some council members expressed reservations about the large number of neighborhood pot clubs. Discussion of the issue was delayed for further study. The council's public safety committee will take it up again on Oct. 28.