Closing Time for Cannabis Clubs
Dispensaries shut down on eve of Justice Department deadline
On Friday morning, Mel Rosmon, a talkative 58-year-old veteran, paid a visit to his neighborhood medical marijuana dispensary, Divinity Tree, as it prepared to shut its doors for good.
As part of a federal crackdown on the state's medical marijuana industry, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag ordered the club and dozens of others to close, because they are near schools and parks where children play. Divinity Tree -- a small storefront dispensary with a gated door and security guard -- is located in the Tenderloin, around the block from Sgt. John Macaulay Park.
Rosmon, a longtime resident of the neighborhood, scoffed at the notion that the club was a threat to kids who might use the swings and slides at the playground.
“There’s more dope fiends and junkies in the park smokin’ crack and shootin’ dope then there’ll ever be in front of this place,” said Rosmon, standing outside Divinity Tree. “They got this bathroom in front of that park that’s a junkie paradise, and they’re coming and obstructing something that’s good for the community!”
Apart from what Rosmon termed “an open-air market for crack, heroin and meth,” the block in between the playground and Divinity Tree is occupied by establishments that are not particularly child-friendly.
Directly across the street from the playground is a strip club, the New Century Theater, which features large posters of semi-nude women on its exterior walls. On Friday morning, two young boys playing on the parks' swings could see the New Century marquee advertising a performance by the “World’s Hottest MILF Lisa Ann” on Thanksgiving weekend.
There are also a number of liquor stores and bars nearby. And there is the massage parlor called “Susu Spa,” which advertises "oriental massage," private hot baths and an ATM for the convenience of customers.
“We made a decision about how we were going to use our resources,” said Haag. “Most of the complaints and concerns from citizens are about the dispensaries being too close schools and parks where children play.”
The crackdown has heightened tensions between the state, which legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes in 1996, and the federal government, which prohibits pot use.
Two other dispensaries in San Francisco -- Medithrive and Mr. Nice Guy -- closed over the weekend after receiving letters from Haag. There are still more than 20 pot clubs in San Francisco. In Oakland, Richard Lee, the leader of the state's marijuana legalization movement, shut down his dispensary last week only to reopen it three doors down at an address not cited in Haag's letter.
He said he chose to close up shop rather than fight the federal government, which threatened his landlord with criminal prosecution and forfeiture of the property.
“Probably somebody has to be the dispensary that gets smashed by the DEA and stuff taken,” said Pappas. “We don’t want our workers to go through it.”
Pappas joined a lawsuit aiming to stop the crackdown. He said he will shut down his dispensary for a few months and "hope there's enough backlash and that the lawsuits get something done."
On Friday evening, Pappas watched as the employees removed the plastic containers of marijuana buds from the dispensary's glass case. Pappas said he will return the buds to growers. His staff erased the specials from a white board and wiped down the glass case, removing the remaining green scraps.
The employees, mostly young men, were emotional; some even cried. Throughout the day, Luchan Baker, a former security guard, had customers sign his white Divinity Tree shirt with a green marker. One man gave Baker a hug, saying, “Well, at least the Raiders won last night.”
“Yup,” said Baker. “It looks like the Raiders and feds won.”
Related
Jillian Galloway
We have a right to expect that our laws are based on logic and we have a right to expect that our laws create more good than harm. The federal marijuana prohibition FAILS on both these counts. Banning adult marijuana sales makes children LESS safe!
We have allowed the federal government to experiment with this policy of prohibition for FORTY years now and it has NEVER worked! Instead of protecting children from marijuana, the prohibition makes marijuana MORE accessible to children by creating large profits for drug dealers where otherwise there would be NONE.
Just look at how hard it is to buy illegal alcohol and how easy it is to buy illegal marijuana and you see firsthand the effectiveness of alcohol legalization and the ineffectiveness of marijuana prohibition! WE are responsible for the safety of our children and WE have to tell the federal government to END the ineffective marijuana prohibition and instead regulate marijuana just like beer and just like wine.
CAD Guy
So who appointed this U.S Attorney and why are we not holding that elected official accountable?
There are already over 100 murders in Oakland, most of which are related to organized crime, and our top federal law enforcement official is chasing hippie entreprenuers? Really? I think it would be different if someone made the case that these dispensaries are actually retail operations for drug cartels, but I have not heard anyone make that case. This is a huge waste of time and effort and a misappropriation of scarce government law enforcement capacity.
SF Soma
That would be President Obama and he does not believe in accountability when it comes to progressive issues.
JOK
Since all things political are viewed through the lens of money these days, let's consider one economic inevitability of closing down all or most of the medical marijuana providers. These are providers who obey California law, pay income and business taxes (making their activities significantly publicly transparent) and in some locales cooperate directly with local law enforcement to maintain the legal status of their operations (mainly growers). This structure of accountability and enforcement is more transparent than not and places the practices of the suppliers under the scrutiny of state and local government.
The market for marijuana, both medical and illicit, has had time to mature to the point where municipalities seek to include the dispensaries in their local tax base and the businesses actually welcome the taxes in order to be fully integrated as businesses within their communities. There is a significant desire to legalize and tax marijuana. This state of cooperation has lead to greater consistency of the product; safe, rational and transparent transactions involving the product; security from organized criminal involvement for sellers and clients/patients. And if authorities are allowed by Federal policy to fully engage with the industry, the safety and purity of the product will be regulated.
Now imagine this market under the well-armed control of Los Zetas and the Sinaloa drug cartels of Mexico. Imagine bodies hanging from over-passes or dumped headless within 100 yards of a school. Imagine traveling to Prom Night in small convoys of armored SUVs. Do NOT imagine that any police department in California could counter an experienced, trained, well-armed (with weapons purchased in the US) urban guerrilla force, which is the model the Mexican cartels have successfully followed. Not even LAPD can match their firepower and mobility. These groups already have a cross-border culture: their members revolve through prisons on both sides of the border; they have gang representation and alliances within the US; weapons are consistently and easily purchased in the US (especially when incompetence is multiplied by Fast and Furious career-building within the Justice Dept.); they grow marijuana on US public lands to keep their supply chain close to the customer base. I do not know if the cartels offshore their assets in US financial institutions, but it would make sense for them to hedge against currency fluctuations and minimize cross-border transfers of cash.
The Mexican cartels are preparing right now to capture completely the market for marijuana in the US. One could grow cynical watching the misguided actions of the Justice and Treasury Departments pave the way for their unimpeded entry. The most professionally run dispensaries are the core model upon which we can rationally and in a controlled manner, legalize marijuana. And legalization with regulation and taxation is the only way we can establish a market that excludes the hyper-violent drug cartels from colonizing our communities and spreading social and political chaos hundreds of miles north of the border.
sticky skunk
What I don't understand is why the DT was singled out? There is the Sanctuary just down Ofarrell which is approximately the same distance from the park as the Divinity Tree and then Grass Roots is only a block further away.
The DT had higher quality medicine at better prices than any other club in this city. Hell even their Bhang chocoloate bars were on average $5 cheaper than other clubs per bar. I KNOW that DT cared more about providing a true non profit, high quality establishment for it's patients than 95% of the clubs out there. It showed in their meds and their pricing especially when compared to other clubs in the city.
The federal Government is so misguided and it sucks that they would rather turn the other cheek when it comes to our problems to the south and then waste those precious resources on screwing with pot clubs. Lunacy!
M L
I've smoked pot for 35 years. I love pot. I think pot clubs are way too numerous, way too sketchy and way to much for many of the people stuck living and working near them. Feel free to work toward rules that makes pot clubs like Barney's New York and cotton candy all at the same time, but as they stand, they need to be weeded down to the classy few. Not the sketchy many. I have Obama's back on this one. Maybe its just that he has kids and wonders about their futures?
Jay Taber
Keeping democracy down requires regular White House and Congressional intervention. Depriving us of jobs, homes and medical care makes it difficult for us to organize and mobilize a revolt against the corporate tyranny ruling our country and the world. Obama's cannabis raids might have something to do with federal inability to control this non-pharmaceutical product, or it may be a concern about the consciousness raising aspect of this beneficial entheogen. Or both.
Wilmington Mclaughlin
So so sad to hear about it. I can't really say I am pro Cannabis legalisation but I think that it's a personal decision of any other person. If I want to do something why someone forbids me to do it? I mean if it's a drug them they should ban alcohol and pipes, cigars and many other things that have bad influence on our health both physical and mental. If you are interested then come see my site free pdf converter http://openpdfconverter.com/ it's a good one.