Supervisors, medical marijuana users at odds

Holistic Healing Products still open as a smoke shop

Tiffany Tuell

(Updated: Thursday, October 01, 2009, 6:18 PM)

The Madera County Board of Supervisors may have passed an Emergency Ordinance to make marijuana dispensaries illegal as of Sept. 22, but some members of the community are not giving up the fight to re-open dispensaries as soon as possible.

Drew Workman, owner of Holistic Healing Products in Oakhurst, said his business is not a dispensary but a "collective." Although Workman claims the board's action is unconstitutional, he has stopped selling medical marijuana at his store on Highway 41 next to Judy's Donuts. The store is still open as a smoke shop.

At the Board of Supervisors meeting last week, Supervisor Ronn Dominici was sympathetic to people who use medical marijuana, saying it wasn't dangerous if used as recommended by a doctor. However, he said he would stand behind the ban because state and federal governments have not given word on the legality of dispensaries.

"They have given that authority to the cities and the counties," Dominici said. "As a board, we have a right to say what is good for this county."

Sheriff John Anderson believes medical marijuana is a bad idea, saying that it will increase crime.

"Crime can't be much worse than it is and by allowing more drugs into the county and state will only make it worse," Sheriff John Anderson said.

Madera County District Attorney Michael Keitz said the law didn't allow for the establishment of dispensaries and "the federal government has made quite a business of raiding dispensaries throughout the state of California."

Workman said the county is now saying he doesn't have a legitimate business even though his business license is posted inside HHP. "If they feel this was a danger, they should have taken a good, hard look at this," Workman said. "Sheriff Anderson said that crime has increased and I beg to see those statistics. I would say petty crime has decreased since people have had a place to purchase medical marijuana."

Anderson said he researched other counties that have dispensaries and according to police departments, crime has increased in those counties.

Workman, however, is not going to close up shop and leave. "We're going to sue the county, the board of supervisors individually and each department that cleared my business license," Workman said. "The county will have to defend themselves with taxpayer money."

"Sheriff Anderson said marijuana is a gateway drug but that couldn't be farther from the truth," Workman said. "It's completely outdated and shows the way the board of supervisors and the sheriff thinks. They're telling people they don't have a way to get medicine. We turn away people crying."

"It's against federal law and the people of Madera County don't want it," Anderson said. "It might be outdated but it is the law of the land. It is a narcotic and still against the law."

Rick Zappey of Oakhurst was recommended marijuana for his back. He has had three surgeries and has degenerative disks in his back and is constantly in pain.

"I could take a lot more pain medicine than I do but don't want to," Zappey said. He said he is able to live a more functional life by using marijuana rather than prescription pain killers which, he said, have worse side effects than marijuana.

"Now there will be illegal drug dealing," Zappey said. "I'm shocked that they (board of supervisors) did this. The dispensaries are helping an awful lot of people in this area and California voted it legal."

Rod Wilson of Oakhurst uses marijuana for arthritis. "What the Madera County Supervisors have decided to do is completely and totally illegal. They've gone against the people of California. They need to provide safe access and distribution of marijuana since the government isn't providing safe and available access, we the people are providing it."

"This is no different from the people that stand in line at the pharmacy in Raley's. The county hasn't stopped anything. The people that are involved with it and believe in it don't like the illegal aspect of it and crime will just get worse and worse. Look at the crime rate when alcohol was made illegal," said Franklin.