T
The420Guy
Guest
Business is booming at a Fairfax enterprise that has no competitors,
50 daily customers seven days a week, all the publicity it can stand
and annual sales of about $1 million.
But making ends meet hasn't been easy for the Rev. Lynnette Shaw of
Fairfax, founder and sole proprietor of Marin Alliance for Medical
Marijuana, which cleared about $86,000 in net profit two years ago.
As head of Marin County's only medicinal marijuana clinic, Shaw hasn't
exactly traveled a yellow brick road to success. Federal agents have
shut down pot clinics in Oakland, San Francisco and Santa Cruz but,
through it all, Shaw's Fairfax clinic has continued to fill
prescriptions for patients.
"I knew I had a mission and that God would protect us," she said.
"There's a lot of people counting on us."
Shaw is a regular at the Marin County Jail. Since being ordained a
Christian minister with the Religion of Jesus Christ in 1997, she has
performed wedding ceremonies for inmates. "I'm the jail minister," she
said.
Shaw, 49, dreamed of becoming a singer but suffered a setback at the
hands of a partner who left her with chronic neck pain and headaches.
She started using marijuana to ease her pain and served 80 days in
jail for possession in 1990, then served as a counselor from 1993 to
1996 at San Francisco's largest pot club, a facility started by
activist Dennis Peron.
"I'm from the mothership of all pot clubs," said Shaw, who smokes
about one joint a day for pain.
Shaw got a business license and hung out her shingle July 3, 1996, in
a five-room office in downtown Fairfax on the second floor of a plain
brown building that houses several other medical facilities. The
operation started out as a campaign headquarters for the Proposition
215 campaign and, when that passed and medical marijuana became legal
under California law, Shaw said it made perfect sense to turn the
facility into the county's first pot clinic.
"I thought I had the most support here and it's a special place," she
said about Fairfax, where 86 percent of those voting approved
Proposition 215.
The waiting room resembles a doctor's office, complete with two
couches, a gurgling water fountain and a stereo playing the soft rock
sounds of the Supremes, the Beach Boys and Elton John. A white board
mounted on the wall displays the different varieties of marijuana for
sale, along with prices.
"We sell the best stuff we can find," Shaw said.
Marijuana ranges from $25 to $60 for an eighth of an ounce. Cookies
and Rice Krispie pot treats cost $8 apiece. Tincture - liquid cannabis
that can be stirred into tea - costs $20 per bottle, and massage oil -
a mixture of cannabis oil, olive oil and lavender that is rubbed on
the body - costs $10 a bottle.
Each plastic bag of marijuana is labeled "For Medical Use Only" and
has a serial number on it that coincides with a number on a patient's
receipt that can be shown to law enforcement authorities as proof of
ownership. Patients can use Visa, Mastercard or cash to pay a
receptionist and, should the medication not have its desired effect,
there is a return policy.
San Rafael resident Clay Shinn, 47, said he spends about $100 per week
on marijuana purchased at Marin Alliance. As a quadrapalegic with
full-blown AIDS due to a tainted blood transfusion he received in
1992, Shinn said he needs to smoke about one gram of pot every day to
stave off nausea caused by his various medications.
"I used to barf every day," he said. "You could set your clock by
it."
Shinn said he started purchasing marijuana from Marin Alliance in 1997
and has come to depend on it due to his limited mobility.
"Frankly, I don't know what I'd do," he said. "I'd have to go
underground and that wouldn't be good for me."
Shinn and other customers must display both an alliance membership
card, and a medical marijuana card issued by the county, before they
can make a purchase.
Shaw's biggest threat: Keeping the federal government at
bay.
"These new feds are worse than the others," she said about the Bush
administration.
Shaw noted the federal government won a civil injunction against Marin
Alliance in San Francisco Superior Court in May 2002. The injunction
seeks to permanently close the Fairfax clinic but Shaw and Marin
Alliance are appealing to the Ninth Circuit Court this fall.
"I can stay in business until there's a decision," she said.
Charles Miller, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, said
Shaw and Marin Alliance are in violation of the Controlled Substance
Act of 1970, which classifies marijuana with heroin, mescaline and
LSD.
He would not say why the Justice Department decided to pursue a civil
injunction instead of criminal charges but said, "We are defending an
existing federal law. There is obviously a contradictory law in
California."
Shaw said she thinks the federal government chose to file a civil
lawsuit - which does not seek any jail time or fines - instead of
criminal charges largely because neither she nor Marin Alliance grows
any marijuana despite having permission from the town to do so.
"We're still having a problem with supply because we don't have our
own garden," she said.
The marijuana comes from patients who grow their own marijuana and
have enough to sell to the clinic. Shaw would not disclose the names
or locations of her suppliers but she said she takes special care to
not buy from anyone residing out of state because that would violate
interstate commerce laws.
"We're not transporting anything over state lines," she said. "We only
use stuff that's California grown."
The Fairfax Planning Commission approved in 1997 a use permit for the
clinic so it can operate as a business in town, but the permit came
with 84 conditions - such as maintaining records of patients and
medicine, submitting to regular financial audits, taking precautionary
measures to ensure the marijuana is not stolen, not selling to anyone
under 18 and not being open for business when baseball games are being
played at the Little League field across the parking lot.
There were some things that had to be ironed out, such as one patient
who was reselling marijuana after purchasing it, and instances of
patients using marijuana in public, but Shaw said the problems have
been resolved.
"We don't have any problems with the clinic," said Planning Director
Ken Kirkey.
A copy of the club's most recent financial audit shows that in 2001,
Marin Alliance spent $674,734 on marijuana and posted revenue of
$985,400, which after expenses produced the $86,000 net profit.
Shaw said the clinic pays for her personal rent, utilities and pays
her a small salary, all of which is valued at about $55,000 per year.
The remainder of the money went for attorney fees and repairs to make
the building accessible to patients in wheelchairs.
"We don't make money here. We just pay our bills," Shaw said. "I don't
have any money saved."
The club does not charge sales tax on purchases but it does pay income
tax and contributes to unemployment insurance for its four part-time
employees, who do not receive health insurance.
"What it (the audit) proved is that we're broke and honest," she
said.
Police Chief Kenneth Hughes said the only major incident at the clinic
was a burglary more than three years ago. Hughes said he thinks one
reason the clinic has a low-key existence is that, unlike a bar, where
customers consume alcohol on the premises, Marin Alliance's customers
are not allowed to use pot on the property.
"Our contacts with the club are very minimal," he said. "They're
trying to act in a responsible manner."
Relations with law enforcement have not always been
rosy.
Shaw originally advised Marin Alliance members to stay away from the
county's certification process, which was initiated in 1997, after
several early card holders were arrested. Angered over District
Attorney Paula Kamena's policy on medical marijuana enforcement, Shaw
led an unsuccessful recall drive against Kamena in 2000 that cost the
county $500,000 in election expenses.
At the same time that local law enforcement officers agreed to take
the county's medical marijuana card seriously, Kamena eliminated
guidelines as to the maximum number of marijuana plants or pounds of
pot that a card holder could possess without fear of
prosecution.
Business at the clinic has petered off since then, Shaw said. When law
enforcement officials were confiscating plants, she said it forced
many people to buy their marijuana from her. But when law enforcement
stopped confiscating plants, more people started growing marijuana
themselves.
That's fine with Shaw. "The goal of the club is to be here for the
sickest of the sick who can't grow for themselves," she said.
Marin Alliance is not allowed to sell pipes, rolling papers or
anything other than marijuana. Should a member get in trouble for a
marijuana-related problem, the clinic does line up free legal advice
through its network of pro bono lawyers and free medical advice from a
doctor every other Thursday, Shaw said.
"Some people just register so they can have access to a lawyer if they
get busted," Shaw said.
Standing up for patients' rights and rights in general - "I don't own
a gun but I joined the NRA because they stand up for our rights" - is
all in a day's work for Shaw, who has been a member of the Fairfax
Chamber of Commerce since 1997. The way she sees it, someone has to do
it.
"As patients, we have no other option than to go back to the
gangsters," she said.
Pubdate: Sun, 27 Apr 2003
Source: Marin Independent Journal (CA)
Copyright: 2003 Marin Independent Journal
Contact: opinion@marinij.com
Website: Marin Independent Journal: Breaking News, Sports, Business, Entertainment & San Rafael News
50 daily customers seven days a week, all the publicity it can stand
and annual sales of about $1 million.
But making ends meet hasn't been easy for the Rev. Lynnette Shaw of
Fairfax, founder and sole proprietor of Marin Alliance for Medical
Marijuana, which cleared about $86,000 in net profit two years ago.
As head of Marin County's only medicinal marijuana clinic, Shaw hasn't
exactly traveled a yellow brick road to success. Federal agents have
shut down pot clinics in Oakland, San Francisco and Santa Cruz but,
through it all, Shaw's Fairfax clinic has continued to fill
prescriptions for patients.
"I knew I had a mission and that God would protect us," she said.
"There's a lot of people counting on us."
Shaw is a regular at the Marin County Jail. Since being ordained a
Christian minister with the Religion of Jesus Christ in 1997, she has
performed wedding ceremonies for inmates. "I'm the jail minister," she
said.
Shaw, 49, dreamed of becoming a singer but suffered a setback at the
hands of a partner who left her with chronic neck pain and headaches.
She started using marijuana to ease her pain and served 80 days in
jail for possession in 1990, then served as a counselor from 1993 to
1996 at San Francisco's largest pot club, a facility started by
activist Dennis Peron.
"I'm from the mothership of all pot clubs," said Shaw, who smokes
about one joint a day for pain.
Shaw got a business license and hung out her shingle July 3, 1996, in
a five-room office in downtown Fairfax on the second floor of a plain
brown building that houses several other medical facilities. The
operation started out as a campaign headquarters for the Proposition
215 campaign and, when that passed and medical marijuana became legal
under California law, Shaw said it made perfect sense to turn the
facility into the county's first pot clinic.
"I thought I had the most support here and it's a special place," she
said about Fairfax, where 86 percent of those voting approved
Proposition 215.
The waiting room resembles a doctor's office, complete with two
couches, a gurgling water fountain and a stereo playing the soft rock
sounds of the Supremes, the Beach Boys and Elton John. A white board
mounted on the wall displays the different varieties of marijuana for
sale, along with prices.
"We sell the best stuff we can find," Shaw said.
Marijuana ranges from $25 to $60 for an eighth of an ounce. Cookies
and Rice Krispie pot treats cost $8 apiece. Tincture - liquid cannabis
that can be stirred into tea - costs $20 per bottle, and massage oil -
a mixture of cannabis oil, olive oil and lavender that is rubbed on
the body - costs $10 a bottle.
Each plastic bag of marijuana is labeled "For Medical Use Only" and
has a serial number on it that coincides with a number on a patient's
receipt that can be shown to law enforcement authorities as proof of
ownership. Patients can use Visa, Mastercard or cash to pay a
receptionist and, should the medication not have its desired effect,
there is a return policy.
San Rafael resident Clay Shinn, 47, said he spends about $100 per week
on marijuana purchased at Marin Alliance. As a quadrapalegic with
full-blown AIDS due to a tainted blood transfusion he received in
1992, Shinn said he needs to smoke about one gram of pot every day to
stave off nausea caused by his various medications.
"I used to barf every day," he said. "You could set your clock by
it."
Shinn said he started purchasing marijuana from Marin Alliance in 1997
and has come to depend on it due to his limited mobility.
"Frankly, I don't know what I'd do," he said. "I'd have to go
underground and that wouldn't be good for me."
Shinn and other customers must display both an alliance membership
card, and a medical marijuana card issued by the county, before they
can make a purchase.
Shaw's biggest threat: Keeping the federal government at
bay.
"These new feds are worse than the others," she said about the Bush
administration.
Shaw noted the federal government won a civil injunction against Marin
Alliance in San Francisco Superior Court in May 2002. The injunction
seeks to permanently close the Fairfax clinic but Shaw and Marin
Alliance are appealing to the Ninth Circuit Court this fall.
"I can stay in business until there's a decision," she said.
Charles Miller, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, said
Shaw and Marin Alliance are in violation of the Controlled Substance
Act of 1970, which classifies marijuana with heroin, mescaline and
LSD.
He would not say why the Justice Department decided to pursue a civil
injunction instead of criminal charges but said, "We are defending an
existing federal law. There is obviously a contradictory law in
California."
Shaw said she thinks the federal government chose to file a civil
lawsuit - which does not seek any jail time or fines - instead of
criminal charges largely because neither she nor Marin Alliance grows
any marijuana despite having permission from the town to do so.
"We're still having a problem with supply because we don't have our
own garden," she said.
The marijuana comes from patients who grow their own marijuana and
have enough to sell to the clinic. Shaw would not disclose the names
or locations of her suppliers but she said she takes special care to
not buy from anyone residing out of state because that would violate
interstate commerce laws.
"We're not transporting anything over state lines," she said. "We only
use stuff that's California grown."
The Fairfax Planning Commission approved in 1997 a use permit for the
clinic so it can operate as a business in town, but the permit came
with 84 conditions - such as maintaining records of patients and
medicine, submitting to regular financial audits, taking precautionary
measures to ensure the marijuana is not stolen, not selling to anyone
under 18 and not being open for business when baseball games are being
played at the Little League field across the parking lot.
There were some things that had to be ironed out, such as one patient
who was reselling marijuana after purchasing it, and instances of
patients using marijuana in public, but Shaw said the problems have
been resolved.
"We don't have any problems with the clinic," said Planning Director
Ken Kirkey.
A copy of the club's most recent financial audit shows that in 2001,
Marin Alliance spent $674,734 on marijuana and posted revenue of
$985,400, which after expenses produced the $86,000 net profit.
Shaw said the clinic pays for her personal rent, utilities and pays
her a small salary, all of which is valued at about $55,000 per year.
The remainder of the money went for attorney fees and repairs to make
the building accessible to patients in wheelchairs.
"We don't make money here. We just pay our bills," Shaw said. "I don't
have any money saved."
The club does not charge sales tax on purchases but it does pay income
tax and contributes to unemployment insurance for its four part-time
employees, who do not receive health insurance.
"What it (the audit) proved is that we're broke and honest," she
said.
Police Chief Kenneth Hughes said the only major incident at the clinic
was a burglary more than three years ago. Hughes said he thinks one
reason the clinic has a low-key existence is that, unlike a bar, where
customers consume alcohol on the premises, Marin Alliance's customers
are not allowed to use pot on the property.
"Our contacts with the club are very minimal," he said. "They're
trying to act in a responsible manner."
Relations with law enforcement have not always been
rosy.
Shaw originally advised Marin Alliance members to stay away from the
county's certification process, which was initiated in 1997, after
several early card holders were arrested. Angered over District
Attorney Paula Kamena's policy on medical marijuana enforcement, Shaw
led an unsuccessful recall drive against Kamena in 2000 that cost the
county $500,000 in election expenses.
At the same time that local law enforcement officers agreed to take
the county's medical marijuana card seriously, Kamena eliminated
guidelines as to the maximum number of marijuana plants or pounds of
pot that a card holder could possess without fear of
prosecution.
Business at the clinic has petered off since then, Shaw said. When law
enforcement officials were confiscating plants, she said it forced
many people to buy their marijuana from her. But when law enforcement
stopped confiscating plants, more people started growing marijuana
themselves.
That's fine with Shaw. "The goal of the club is to be here for the
sickest of the sick who can't grow for themselves," she said.
Marin Alliance is not allowed to sell pipes, rolling papers or
anything other than marijuana. Should a member get in trouble for a
marijuana-related problem, the clinic does line up free legal advice
through its network of pro bono lawyers and free medical advice from a
doctor every other Thursday, Shaw said.
"Some people just register so they can have access to a lawyer if they
get busted," Shaw said.
Standing up for patients' rights and rights in general - "I don't own
a gun but I joined the NRA because they stand up for our rights" - is
all in a day's work for Shaw, who has been a member of the Fairfax
Chamber of Commerce since 1997. The way she sees it, someone has to do
it.
"As patients, we have no other option than to go back to the
gangsters," she said.
Pubdate: Sun, 27 Apr 2003
Source: Marin Independent Journal (CA)
Copyright: 2003 Marin Independent Journal
Contact: opinion@marinij.com
Website: Marin Independent Journal: Breaking News, Sports, Business, Entertainment & San Rafael News
