Feds smoking out Fairfax pot club Town officials, chronic-pain sufferers blunt in their opposition
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6 School Street Plaza, Ste. 215, Fairfax
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by Ronnie Cohen
ohn D’Amato of Fairfax suffers from diabetic neuropathy. He tried taking OxyContin and other opiates. But the 76-year-old says he gets more pain relief from a few puffs of pot. Last week, D’Amato and the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana sued federal officials to try to stop them from shuttering his supplier—the Cannabis Buyers’ Club in Fairfax. The nonprofit cooperative has been selling pot out of an office behind the West Marin Little League baseball field since California voters approved marijuana for medical use in 1996. Last month, the state’s four federal prosecutors announced a campaign to close pot shops, starting with those near schools and playgrounds. The Fairfax club was at the top of the hit list. U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag in San Francisco sent letters to the club, its landlord and the bank holding the mortgage threatening to prosecute them criminally and use federal drug-trafficking laws to seize the property unless the shop shut down. As a result, on Monday, the landlord served Lynnette Shaw, the club’s founder and director, with a three-day notice to either leave the premises or remove the pot. But Shaw intends to keep operating the Fairfax club just where it is. On Tuesday, her lawyers asked U.S. District Court Judge Donna Ryu in Oakland for a temporary restraining order barring the government from prosecuting Shaw, club members or her landlord until the lawsuit can be heard. Similar suits and restraining-order requests have been filed on behalf of other dispensaries throughout the state. The suits say the dispensaries relied on the Justice Department’s assurances in a 2009 settlement of a Santa Cruz case that it would not prosecute or subject to federal forfeiture California businesses that complied with state and local regulations. Fairfax officials say the dispensary not only complies with state regulations and more than 50 local use-permit conditions, it also contributes a significant amount of sales tax to the town and helps people suffering from cancer, AIDS, arthritis, glaucoma and other illnesses. They also believe the shop’s presence has reduced street sales of illegal drugs. Last week, the Fairfax Town Council unanimously approved a resolution opposing federal efforts to close licensed medical-marijuana shops. In addition, Mayor Larry Bragman and one of Shaw’s attorneys met with an assistant U.S. attorney in San Francisco in an effort to convince her to allow the Fairfax dispensary to continue operating.
Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana
“I made it very clear that the town of Fairfax was ready, willing and able to reduce any particular concerns they may have about the dispensary,” Bragman said after the meeting. “By eliminating safe access to patients, there’s going to be a lot of unintended consequences. I think the reality is you may actually see more illicit sales. “It’s puzzling why the U.S. attorney is pursuing the crackdown now.” Haag refused comment, as did a Justice Department spokesman. In announcing the crackdown last month, Haag accused the dispensaries of selling weed not just to sick people but also to healthy youths. She targeted the Fairfax shop because of its close proximity to the baseball field. The Fairfax shop sells only to adults who have a doctor’s recommendation, Shaw said. A healthy looking man who came into the shop to buy a bag of marijuana the other day said he needed it to relieve anxiety and help him sleep after working two jobs and attending the College of Marin. “I’m up all night thinking about horrible things without it,” said the clean-cut 23-year-old who lives in Larkspur and requested anonymity. He said he preferred cannabis over anti-anxiety pharmaceuticals. “It works for me,” he said. “It helps me eat and relax.” For Shaw, pot wards off a variety of complaints. Since the club’s start, the 57year-old—who says she was once known as Hollywood’s “weed girl”—has fended off a series of efforts to close it down. She and the club’s 800 or so regular customers believed their days of fighting the law were over when President Barack Obama, who campaigned on a promise to leave the question of medical marijuana in the hands of states, took office. Shaw talked the other day in her waiting room, where the scent of marijuana and a whistling African Gray parrot greet visitors. “I don’t want to go to drug dealers to get my medicine,” she said. “I’ve had guns held to my head to get a sack of marijuana. I started this whole thing so we wouldn’t be a the mercy of the thugs and the thieves.” A 67-year-old woman with glaucoma, macular degeneration and back pain walked into the shop and asked if it would have to close. “I appreciate the fight you’re putting on,” she told Shaw. “I’ve got all kinds of medical problems, and it really, really helps me.” <
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