Greenwell Cooperative, a medical cannabis dispensary in Vallejo, was the scene of an attempted robbery on July 9, according to Vallejo police.
"This is why I'm concerned about dispensaries in Martinez," said MPD Chief Tom Simonetti, after learning of the incident. "My view has been consistent from the beginning and that is a concern for public safety in the event a dispensary is opened in our City. The recent take-over robbery this past weekend in the City of Vallejo or the two homicides at two different Los Angeles dispensaries in late May are only a couple of examples of what our City faces, should a dispensary or dispensaries be allowed to open."
Two men were arrested on charges of attempted armed robbery, possession of a hand gun and conspiracy after a high-profile police chase involved numerous Vallejo PD and Solano Sheriff officers, who blocked off downtown streets in their pursuit.
Dale Gieringer, Ph.D., vice chair of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) said Wednesday the attempted Vallejo robbery is the fourth such incident at Northern California dispensaries since January.
In contrast, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 2009 — the most recent statistics available — 710 robberies occurred at California banks.
Just after 10 a.m. last Friday, police allege Larry Bowier and Rashad Gaines, both 20 and Vallejo residents, entered the Greenwell Cooperative at 714 Marin Street with guns drawn, demanded money and pushed passed employees to access the product dispensary room. While grabbing cannabis and stuffing it into garbage sacks, the suspects heard police sirens, so they bolted from the premises, running in different directions, said Vallejo Lieutenant Tenorio Abel on Wednesday.
Bowier was tackled almost immediately by a Vallejo police corporal, while Gaines was apprehended a few hours later when police spotted him in a car near Sonoma Blvd. The suspects' guns were recovered at the time of the arrests.
Abel explained the incident was still under investigation; he was unable to confirm the custody status of the two arrestees. Dispensary employees provided a positive ID of the suspects as the two who had attempted the robbery.
An attempt to contact Greenwell's administrative staff to confirm details provided by Lt. Abel was brusquely met with an employee mumbling "we're not saying anything," followed by him slamming down the phone.
Lieutenant Ken Faulkner of the Solano County Sheriff's Office said yesterday that deputies responded as is the norm in armed robbery incidents, not because it occurred at a cannabis dispensary.
"That just happen to be the place [where it happened], and we responded because Vallejo had an insufficient [number of officers on hand]," Faulkner said.
Gieringer stressed the spate of robberies or burglaries at Northern California dispensaries "mostly involved unregulated dispensaries, fly-by-night operations that don't have very good security." He explained that in Oakland, where regulation has been strictly enforced by the City for the past seven years, there have been no criminal incidents.
"The city-licensed facilities, the record is very good, much better than at liquor or convenience stores, where robberies are a dime a dozen," said Gieringer, adding that problems arise when there is an undue amount of cash on hand at the facility as a result of cash-only policies. Per Gieringer, this happens when the dispensary's bank refuses to allow credit card transactions because it's medical cannabis being sold.
"Banks have been closing the accounts of dispensaries, for example, here at NORML, [an advocacy non-profit], PayPal canceled our account because we were accepting payments from dispensaries to be included in our directories," Gieringer said.
The incidents of banks denying financial services to medical cannabis businesses is so prevalent among national banks such as Bank of America, US Bank, Chase and Wells Fargo that 15 members of Congress penned a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in May, urging him to dispense new guidelines to financial institutions to stop the practice.
According to the patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access, who "has received dozens of reports over the past couple of years from medical marijuana providers in California, Colorado and other states who have either been denied financial services or had their existing bank accounts terminated with little-to-no justification," the letter read "it seems clear that legitimate state-legal businesses are being denied access to banking services, which does not serve the public interest," and stated the denial of financial services produces "an increased risk to public safety with potential theft or robbery that any cash-only or cash-reliant business faces," and is "an affront to fundamental fairness."
If a Martinez dispensary is allowed to open, municipal code would set strict operating parameters, said City Council member and Public Safety Subcommittee member Mike Menesini. He pointed out the large number of armed robberies that occur on a regular basis at ATMs, cautioning against a knee-jerk reaction opposing dispensaries in light of this week's attempted robbery.
"While I fully understand that any business that handles large of amounts of cash is a potential robbery target, we currently do not have these 'targets' in our City," said Simonetti. "Why would we want to invite this type of crime to Martinez?"
On Monday, the Public Safety Subcommittee continued their line-by-line evaluation of the new medical cannabis dispensary ordinance written by the City Attorney upon direction from Council.
"We're trying to be very careful to come up with something we think will work for patients who need medical cannabis and be consistent with public safety concerns," said Menesini. "It's a relatively tedious exercise to essentially determine what should be left to the [dispensary operators] and what should be included in the ordinance, which we will eventually recommend to Council."
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Martinez News-Gazette
Author: Greta Mart
Copyright: 2010 Gibson Publications
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
"This is why I'm concerned about dispensaries in Martinez," said MPD Chief Tom Simonetti, after learning of the incident. "My view has been consistent from the beginning and that is a concern for public safety in the event a dispensary is opened in our City. The recent take-over robbery this past weekend in the City of Vallejo or the two homicides at two different Los Angeles dispensaries in late May are only a couple of examples of what our City faces, should a dispensary or dispensaries be allowed to open."
Two men were arrested on charges of attempted armed robbery, possession of a hand gun and conspiracy after a high-profile police chase involved numerous Vallejo PD and Solano Sheriff officers, who blocked off downtown streets in their pursuit.
Dale Gieringer, Ph.D., vice chair of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) said Wednesday the attempted Vallejo robbery is the fourth such incident at Northern California dispensaries since January.
In contrast, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 2009 — the most recent statistics available — 710 robberies occurred at California banks.
Just after 10 a.m. last Friday, police allege Larry Bowier and Rashad Gaines, both 20 and Vallejo residents, entered the Greenwell Cooperative at 714 Marin Street with guns drawn, demanded money and pushed passed employees to access the product dispensary room. While grabbing cannabis and stuffing it into garbage sacks, the suspects heard police sirens, so they bolted from the premises, running in different directions, said Vallejo Lieutenant Tenorio Abel on Wednesday.
Bowier was tackled almost immediately by a Vallejo police corporal, while Gaines was apprehended a few hours later when police spotted him in a car near Sonoma Blvd. The suspects' guns were recovered at the time of the arrests.
Abel explained the incident was still under investigation; he was unable to confirm the custody status of the two arrestees. Dispensary employees provided a positive ID of the suspects as the two who had attempted the robbery.
An attempt to contact Greenwell's administrative staff to confirm details provided by Lt. Abel was brusquely met with an employee mumbling "we're not saying anything," followed by him slamming down the phone.
Lieutenant Ken Faulkner of the Solano County Sheriff's Office said yesterday that deputies responded as is the norm in armed robbery incidents, not because it occurred at a cannabis dispensary.
"That just happen to be the place [where it happened], and we responded because Vallejo had an insufficient [number of officers on hand]," Faulkner said.
Gieringer stressed the spate of robberies or burglaries at Northern California dispensaries "mostly involved unregulated dispensaries, fly-by-night operations that don't have very good security." He explained that in Oakland, where regulation has been strictly enforced by the City for the past seven years, there have been no criminal incidents.
"The city-licensed facilities, the record is very good, much better than at liquor or convenience stores, where robberies are a dime a dozen," said Gieringer, adding that problems arise when there is an undue amount of cash on hand at the facility as a result of cash-only policies. Per Gieringer, this happens when the dispensary's bank refuses to allow credit card transactions because it's medical cannabis being sold.
"Banks have been closing the accounts of dispensaries, for example, here at NORML, [an advocacy non-profit], PayPal canceled our account because we were accepting payments from dispensaries to be included in our directories," Gieringer said.
The incidents of banks denying financial services to medical cannabis businesses is so prevalent among national banks such as Bank of America, US Bank, Chase and Wells Fargo that 15 members of Congress penned a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in May, urging him to dispense new guidelines to financial institutions to stop the practice.
According to the patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access, who "has received dozens of reports over the past couple of years from medical marijuana providers in California, Colorado and other states who have either been denied financial services or had their existing bank accounts terminated with little-to-no justification," the letter read "it seems clear that legitimate state-legal businesses are being denied access to banking services, which does not serve the public interest," and stated the denial of financial services produces "an increased risk to public safety with potential theft or robbery that any cash-only or cash-reliant business faces," and is "an affront to fundamental fairness."
If a Martinez dispensary is allowed to open, municipal code would set strict operating parameters, said City Council member and Public Safety Subcommittee member Mike Menesini. He pointed out the large number of armed robberies that occur on a regular basis at ATMs, cautioning against a knee-jerk reaction opposing dispensaries in light of this week's attempted robbery.
"While I fully understand that any business that handles large of amounts of cash is a potential robbery target, we currently do not have these 'targets' in our City," said Simonetti. "Why would we want to invite this type of crime to Martinez?"
On Monday, the Public Safety Subcommittee continued their line-by-line evaluation of the new medical cannabis dispensary ordinance written by the City Attorney upon direction from Council.
"We're trying to be very careful to come up with something we think will work for patients who need medical cannabis and be consistent with public safety concerns," said Menesini. "It's a relatively tedious exercise to essentially determine what should be left to the [dispensary operators] and what should be included in the ordinance, which we will eventually recommend to Council."
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Martinez News-Gazette
Author: Greta Mart
Copyright: 2010 Gibson Publications
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
