When neighbors began noticing multiple cars frequenting a residence on Clara Drive in Palo Alto a year ago, they were suspicious that drug dealing might be taking place. The same visitors would arrive each day and then leave the residence each carrying satchels, a neighbor said.
But one day after the postman mistakenly put a letter for that house in a neighbor’s mailbox, what was going on suddenly became clear: The letter was addressed to an operation called Peninsula Greens, which is a medical-marijuana delivery service.
The service is not causing a problem for the neighborhood in terms of noise or litter, but there is more traffic than was normal for the street, said the resident, who asked that her name not be published. Her real concern is over how easily kids are getting access to medical marijuana by using the cards of friends who are 18 and older, and she said she knows of several examples of this occurring.
On a recent morning, she produced packaging that was marked as being from a dispensary, minus the marijuana, which she said she found in the possession of a minor.
“I’m not anti-marijuana,” she said, noting that she has voted in favor of legalizing medical marijuana. But she worries that having a delivery service in a residential neighborhood “fuels the supply” for under-age youth, she said.
The medical marijuana website weedmaps.com shows 10 medical-marijuana delivery services in Palo Alto, including one at Stanford. The map, however, does not list street addresses.
Clicking on each link, one finds a marijuana menu that one’s grandmother could not have imagined in her 1960s and 70s wildest haze, with names like Girl Scout Cookies, Alien Inferno and Cherry Bomb, which offers a “coma dose.” There are also edible S’mores bars, tinctures, topical butters, glazed pecans, watermelon Indica gummies and even marijuana-laced caramel corn.
The State of California licenses medical-marijuana dispensaries, but cities can ban their operation. Palo Alto has an ordinance prohibiting dispensaries. The legality of delivery services in Palo Alto, however, remains a gray area.
“The city has an ordinance providing that a marijuana dispensary is not a permitted use in any zone,” City Attorney Molly Stump said in an email this week. “Until your email this morning, I wasn’t aware that there is or may be a delivery service being operated out of Palo Alto. … We will need to look into what’s happening and how the existing rules may apply.”
Dispensaries are generally thought of as stores. But does a delivery service, which is dispensing medical marijuana but does not receive clients at its door, qualify as a dispensary?
The city does limit the operation of businesses in residential zones.
“Certain small home-based activities are allowed (such as working as a self-employed book-keeper from your home), where there are no impacts inappropriate in a residential setting,” Stump said.
It should be noted that delivering medical marijuana to Palo Alto is, in itself, not illegal.
“Palo Alto does not have a specific ordinance addressing marijuana-delivery services that are located elsewhere but that deliver to addresses in Palo Alto,” Stump said.
When contacted this week, workers at Palo Alto’s marijuana-delivery businesses declined to comment. One said the staff was too busy because it was “rush hour”; another, Silicon Valley Farms, said it doesn’t comment on its activities. Patio Wellness said the company does not want to bring attention to its business. Calls and emails to the other delivery services listed on the website, including Peninsula Greens, were not returned.
The state is in the process of developing licensing standards, and at some point later in the year the city will consider whether additional local regulation of delivery and/or cultivation is appropriate for Palo Alto, Stump said.
Now that the crooks know these businesses exist, I hope the businesses are beefing up security.
Thank you for calling this to our attention. Let’s hope the CC has the balls to close down these businesses. The last thing we need in this town is more access to “MC” by our teens.
How is it that vitamin, tobacco and fast food companies are criticized for marketing to children and making their products look like candy, but marijuana dealers are blatantly doing this without much comment or oversight?
Interesting study out of UC Davis of users:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article69502797.html
Palo Alto must be the NIMBY capital of California. You voted for a law now you don’t want it in your neighborhood. Boo hoo.
No – we did not vote for the law. In the election in which this proposition came up it was voted NO in PA. We do not need pot in PA. This is a city by city vote. A noted SU professor and his wife were the point people for that proposition – CAITO Institute. Hey – if SU personnel are out working this issue then I suggest that the SU Medical Center create a location on campus – in the hospital where the so-called Medical POT is sold – or the CAITO Institute can put a store in their facilities. Note that Mountain View has a pot sales location so who ever needs it can get it. Our kids have enough issues getting through the school system without us putting more hurdles in their faces.
Why do all the commenters use the default argument “our teens will suffer” as their excuse for banning the dispensary?
Do they think that selling condoms at CVS cause teens to have sex? Do they think that liqueur stores cause teens to drink? Do they think that car dealerships causes teens to drive recklessly?
/marc
Wow, I think I know which house it is! A longtime friend of mine sold her house on that street recently, and moved to the coast.
When she was talking to realtors about putting the house on the market, she said nothing about what she thought might be going on at the house in question. However, THREE of the agents she talked to knew ALL about it, and mentioned it to her. They said they wanted her to know that this might very well affect the value of all the houses on Clara.
Making a long story short, she chose an agent who seemed to know nothing about the marijuana sales. At first she got a LOT of offers, but eventually most were rescinded. Apparently prospective buyers talked to other neighbors in the vicinity of my friend’s house, and those neighbors told them they thought there was a crack house or something in the neighborhood.
The result? In this hottest of hot markets, in which houses are bid up nearly a million dollars over asking price, it took a year for my friend’s house on Clara to sell, and it sold for $250,000 BELOW the market value!
mentioned above was a factor. In those low moments of grief, I wished with all of my heart that I had just let her run. I felt guilty and terrified that this was it. I cried into her mane that night and I apologized for all of my fear and for not trusting the full expression of her power. As the days passed, she turned a corner and she came back. Slowly, I got back on and we would wander around the property bareback in a halter. One day, we came to the bottom of a long hill and I felt it. Her mind and her body engaged, she turned my way as if to say “hang on” and she gave me that gallop, bareback and all. At first I tried to whoa her but then I remembered : this is what I asked for and she was honoring that. It was the single most connected moment of my horse life. She is still doing well, thriving as best she can and now with my full respect and trust. She gave me a lesson I will never forget and a soul horse for life.fast and everything mentioned above was a factor. In those low moments of grief, I wished with all of my heart that I had just let her run. I felt guilty and terrified that this was it. I cried into her mane that night and I apologized for all of my fear and for not trusting the full expression of her power. As the days passed, she turned a corner and she came back. Slowly, I got back on and we would wander around the property bareback in a halter. One day, we came to the bottom of a long hill and I felt it. Her mind and her body engaged, she turned my way as if to say “hang on” and she gave me that gallop, bareback and all. At first I tried to whoa her but then I remembered : this is what I asked for and she was honoring that. It was the single most connected moment of my horse life. She is still doing well, thriving as best she can and now with my full respect and trust. She gave me a lesson I will never forget and a soul horse for life.
Gee Marc – do you have any positive reasons why we should have a pot store? Can you lay out a logical set of reasons why that is a good idea? It is only a good idea for the people in the business who think they are going to make BIG DOLLARS doing this. And if a good reason then why not at the SU Hospital? If it is truly medical pot then is should be treated like a medical product.
I don’t have any feeling about the dispensary one way or the other. I think of it as any other business. What I don’t think is that just because they are selling medical marijuana that that should be the reason you don’t want them.
If you are against it fine, just don’t use “….it will destroy our children…” as the reason. Its bogus. Next I will assume you will want to close CVS, Walgreens and all the other drug stores in town since as of today you can get birth control OTC. Then all the grocery stores since they sell food and we know that you can’t trust children to eat well.
/marc
Maybe your kids wont kill themselves if they got stoned instead of trying to get into college and listening to your 1950’s rhetoric . Jerks.
Well first of all it is not a dispensary, it is a delivery service. More importantly I do not understand why palo alto residents that post on this foru, are so mean spirited aND petty. Do you feel good about preventing people that benefit from medical marijuana from getting what they need? Or is it some “ we are special and above all this” attitude?
And I agree with marc– enough with the bogUS “ our children will be harmed argument”
Please provide a link to the map. Thank you.
I am in favor of dispensaries or delivery services, and think that delivery services might
be better, safer, less obstrusive, etc.
But, I wonder what are the rules about operating a business such as this out of one’s
house? Is that what is in fact going on here. I am in favor of legalized marijuana, but
it is still a valuable commodity, and it is expensive, small and light … meaning someone
might want to take it without paying. Sure would not be nice if criminals, not known
for being too careful, broke into the wrong home or otherwise involved their neighbors
in this business. Heck it happens every once in a while with the police where they
respond or go to arrest someone in the wrong house.
Why couldn’t this business be located in a business district with security away from
people’s homes and lives unless they are delivering something?
That said, again, I think it is great that we are rethinking marijuana and other drugs.
With the recent revelation from John Ehrlichman about Nixon wanting to criminalize
and bad-jacket minorities and the counter-culture it is time that people wake up and
start to relax and wind down all the craziness this country have engaged in for so long.
Wikipedia:
>> “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two
>> enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying?
>> We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but
>> by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with
>> heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.
>> We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and
>> vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying
>> about the drugs? Of course we did.
Drugs are no so dangerous to society when they are not illegal and not
distributed by large-scale criminal enterprises. They do not cost so much
and those who want to engage in this if they get out of control will intersect
with law enforcement sooner or later and probably is a less violent, less
expensive and more productive way.
It seems probably to me that we are on the verge of a new way to deal with the
issues in our society – meaning that what we have been doing has caused more
harm than good, so let’s move forward sensibly as possible.
http://www.weedmap.com (enter Palo Alto, CA and click on Delivery) indicates 3 stores in Palo Alto:
Harvest Bloom
Palo Alto, CA 94306
Grandma’s Goodies Delivery
Palo Alto, CA 94301
PENINSULA GREENS DELIVERY
Palo Alto, Ca 94304
None seems to be located in a commercial district. Is this legal?
@link. It is as legal as all the other people that run businesses out of their homes. All the consultants, contractors, plumbers, electricians, hair salons, dog grooming, urban farmers, etc that have home based businesses.
So if people are going to get all huffy about why is this business not in a commercial area, then they better get ready to piss their neighbors off when you tell them that they can’t run their own businesses out of their homes.
From a business view, the mortgage on a home is less then rent on an office. You don’t share any walls with other tenants, you can put in all the security you want, etc. Running a delivery business with a small physical inventory makes sense to run it out of a single family home. Anonymity is what they are seeking. They are NOT having customers come to them. They want to be good neighbors and have you ignore them.
And what do people think is going to happen? Have they seen too many action movies, they expect a heavily armed force of ex-military to take over the block and plan their break-in of the house to steal the cash and merchandise?
/marc
Most home businesses are for the paper part of the business – gardeners work at other people’s homes, contractors work at other people’s homes, electricians work at other people’s homes – they are not performing the purpose of their business in their homes. And all of those entities have to pay taxes on their businesses which are set up with commercial bookkeeping for tax purposes. They all need to be covered with workmen’s comp. insurance and all other requirements in accordance with state law. They are actual businesses with taxpayer codes – what a novel idea.
Some kid was smoking pot on my street in his car – an escapee from the local high school. I told him to move on to the park or the police would be called.
I do not have to go any further from my street to run into escapees from wherever they are suppose to be.
And Marc – you keep making comparisons that have no relative value to what you are proposing.
We need to put up a wall to keep these people out until we figure out what is going on. God bless praise Allah.
@resident 1 Why do you think that the delivery services are not paying taxes? And as for your example, they are doing exactly the same thing. They are doing the “business” of their business at other people’s homes.
Just like the electrician packs up their truck at home and goes to the customer’s site, that is exactly what the delivery service is doing.
And they do pay taxes, do have bookkeeping, do have workman’s comp and all the other attributes you are talking about.
They DON’T have people buying their product and sitting in their car and smoking.
/marc
I have no moral position against marijuana and could care less about what adults do in the privacy of their own home. However, the idea that pot is a medical benefit to society is ridiculous.
The truth is that it has poor treatment efficacy and when smoked even monthly has significant adverse effects on the coronary and pulmonary systems. In addition, it measurably impairs cognitive ability and has long lasting symptoms particularly on developing brains. The bottom line is there are better and safer alternatives.
If anyone grew up or spent time in a neighborhood where the use of pot is pervasive the devastating impact on the community is obvious. It becomes a blight on society as people use it at home, in parking lots, street corners and public spaces. Of course, it visually distorts behavior, collectively saps motivation and feeds into a culture of other criminal activities.
We have just started to make real progress in reducing alcohol and tobacco abuse and now we want to encourage the use of pot? Go spend some time in EPA, EMP or Oakland and see if you still believe it is such a wonderful idea.
So for all you plane speakers, trendy social users and over the hill hippies reminiscing about the glory days of your youth, just because something is legal does not mean it is good for you or your children.
Actually the medical date re the medical claims of pot’s benefits are not ridiculous.
I just watched an adult male friend die of several cancers and the benefits of using marijuana as a pain killer and appetite stimulant were incredibly obvious. Look at the research that shows that states that have legalized medical marijuana have had a huge decrease in deaths from prescription painkillers.
Stop playing moral policeman and start funding govt. services. I sat next to a guy on a plane from some small ALabama town that was dry — no alcohol — but they’d legalized medical marijuana because the major’s daughter had some illness that was only helped my medical marijuana.
Queen Victoria used it for her menstrual cramps It’s got a long and wonderful history. People in San Francisco are picking dispensaries where they can go and socialize in high end coffee-shop environments.
As with any personal freedoms issue, you don’t want it for yourself? Great. Don’t use it but leave the rest of us ADULTS alone.
The irony of California’s medical marijuana law is that people who would benefit most (those with HIV/AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and multiple sclerosis) aren’t getting it because most mainstream physicians don’t provide referrals. Medical marijuana cannot be prescribed like other drugs because it is still listed as a Schedule 1 substance under federal law.
So to get a medical marijuana license, anyone with access to a credit card can go online and buy one without even having to visit a doctor, starting at age 18 (three years younger than California’s legal age to buy alcohol).
Meanwhile, it is a widely-held belief among teenagers (I have three of them in Palo Alto schools) that marijuana is good for what ails you. Stress, anxiety, boredom, and fear of the future can all be treated with THC. The marijuana evangelists have done a terrific job of proclaiming marijuana’s benefits, while ignoring the documented risks of habitual use, especially among young people.
Make no mistake. Countless lives are being ruined by alcohol and other drugs. Marijuana produces a different high, not a better one. One in ten people who try one of these substances will become addicted. My vision is of a society where marijuana and alcohol are legal but dependency is rare. How do we create that?
@pot-propaganda you clearly have not done any research on this topic. Study after study has shown that many people who cannot handle pharmaceuticals for problems likes Parkinson’s and cancer have found that marijuana helps them tremendously. My neighbor used to smoke it for her arthritis. This idea to deny the truth behind medical weed is exactly what the pharmaceutical industry wants people to think. This is so that they can hold a monopoly over prescription medicines and then charge absorbently high prices for them.
I think the argument here is whether people should be selling it out of their homes in a residential neighborhood which is not zoned for commercial business use. People move to PA for the school system and pot selling in a residential neighborhood is contrary to why people are living here. If Pot is deemed a legal substance then it needs to conform to the rules provided in the last referendum which dictates where this all takes place. If I thought that any one in my neighborhood was selling pot out of their house I would notify the police.
I have looked at the research on medical marijuana. In my view it is at about the level of credibility for vitamins, diet supplements and homeopathic remedies. It is an unproven myth that it works better than commercial alternatives.
Unfortunately, I have had several relatives progress through hospice care in different parts of this country. Not a one of the programs offered, advocated nor thought pot was a good choice to remediate suffering. However, who is to say what works best for an individual and that is not what I am talking about.
My concern is what we have already seen widely across California. It is the unsupervised use of pot for anxiety, depression, general fatigue and (nod, nod, wink, wink) recreational use. It is a thinly veiled disguise for proxy legalization.
Time will provide more data. If THC is such a miracle substance it will be adopted by the evil pharmaceutical companies you want to disparage precisely because of their profit motive. It takes over $1 billion to bring a new drug to market and pot would be a windfall to the drug industry if it is safer and works better than the alternatives.
In the meantime, who really has the incentive to bring pot into our neighborhoods? (dealers, addicts, recreational users)
“I think the argument here is whether people should be selling it out of their homes in a residential neighborhood which is not zoned for commercial business use.”
No that is not the arbgument. This is a delivery service. Their is no pot being sold from homes. You are spreading misinformation. And if the issue is commercial business use, then all commercial business should be stopped as well.
I am not sure why you begrudge people who benefit from medical marijuana from having the item delivered to them. Why does palo,alto,think they are so special.
Well if I understand the comment above then people are warehousing the pot in their home so people can come pick it up? We had a proposition we voted on which clearly defined the rules for “the pot business”. It was not in residential homes and it was not near schools. The vote was NO! I have a lot of children of all ages on my street – I am more interested in the safety of the neighborhood then people’s pot business. This needs to go on the ballot for the city – it is a city by city defined effort. It is a matter of priorities. Check out the police blotter in the paper – there are certain streets which always have break-ins, cars broken into – people looking for stuff to steal, fights. We do not live in the perfect place here – we need to be vigilant about what is going on in our neighborhoods.
@resident 1. No, there is no “…people can come pick it up”. It is a delivery service. No customers come anywhere near the home.
Your children are safe. No one is selling to your neighborhood children. There is no one hanging around smoking in their car.
Don’t start fear mongering, rabble rousing about something that is not what you think it is.
/marc
Pot_Propaganda probably abuses prescription drugs and here he/she is slamming pot use. Its always the same with these people. Also, marijuana should not be legalized. CA is not even ready for it. But the medicinal deal is all good. Hey Colorado, how’s it going?
Resident 1– the article clearly states this is a delivery service. I think Marc explained what that means.
If you think it should go on a ballot, then start collecting signatures. Of course the law would have to ban any and all home businesses.
What does the police blotter have to do with this? Should we also shut down all liquor stores and drug stores.
Marc is correct. The fear mongering needs to stop.
Resident 1 is employing the same fear mongering he has used during the airplane noise debate.
From the comments of Just the Facts and IDBJNWY it is obvious they are recreational users. The idea that they need it for medicinal purposes is a “pipe dream”. They just want the convenience of home delivery like it was Amazon Prime or Uber.
They don’t like the idea of going out to get it because it makes them confront their own culpability in fostering the underground drug culture. Maybe pot for them is happy time doing doobies and talking the merits of Dostoevsky.
Where I grew up it meant parents neglecting kids and kids neglecting school and young men killing each other.
If you’re having concerns about this, why not bring it up with your friends and neighbors who are, quite literally, spending so much money on pot that it actually makes business sense to open a warehouse…in nearly the most expensive location in the country to do so.
Why do people always look at these issues like its some kind of nefarious outsiders (usually EPA) who want to corrupt our innocent children with their rock music and boy+girl dancing…
Excuse me – read the whole article – the legal staff of the city was unaware that this activity was going on which means it is happening on the down low.
The legal staff of the city is going to investigate this. That is the starting point for the article and the ending point. The city will deal with this – not the residents who have their own personal opinions on it. Castigating individual citizens is pointless since it is the cities call on this.
If pot delivery is a legitimate business, then the owners names and addresses should be listed in a business registry, and the businesses should be subject to inspection. I’m pretty sure neighbors would not be enthusiastic about having pot grow houses, or even distribution centers, on their streets. How do we even know the owners aren’t minors? I would guess that the Stanford MC distributors are students who are violating Stanford’s rules wrt drugs in dorm rooms. There really needs to be more oversight of these shady delivery services.
Here’s a free callout to Silicon Valley Farms which is one of the delivery services listed on the weedmap.com site for Palo Alto mentioned in the article. There is a special running right now below:
“We cultivate and provide the highest quality medicine while keeping patient donations as low as possible. We pride
ourselves in being the FASTEST SERVICE around. Average delivery time is within 30 MINUTES.
$100 minimum. FREE GRAM Tues-Thurs.”
On the menu, teenagers (I mean patients) can order a wide variety of THC laced chocolates, gummy bears, candy orange slices, rainbow sours and chewing gum.
Your kids can order by phone or on-line and I bet they even accept Apple Pay. To order there is no requirement to set up an account, provide a “prescription” or even enter acknowledgement of age.
Don’t worry parents, these services are merely to ease the pain and suffering to the sick and invalid. I suggest you open your eyes as well as your kid’s backpacks because the ability to get high concentration THC in any form and intensity is easier than getting Dominoes Pizza.
These cannabis infused edibles are usually safer, more beneficial, smoke-free options for patients in need of their medication. It is not marketing towards children or teenagers, it is marketing towards those people do not want to smoke it, want to keep it as private as possible, due to the (what should be archaic) stigma behind using this medicine.
also, i would like to challenge you to try to sign up for this “easy access/not-regulated” service and get to the transaction stage of the order before you make such claims.
What’s next, hemp happy meals? Cracker Jacks with a secret toy THC surprise? How about breakfast cereals with cute animal mascots or sports figures on the box?
I am glad there are 100s of high dosage THC infused “Medicine” products including lollipops, popcorn, pretzels, chili lime peanuts and of course Auntie Dolores chocolate chip cookies. (All from the websites listed on weedmaps.com).
They make the absorption process so much more efficient for weakened or developing bodies and also avoid the social stigma of prying eyes from disapproving neighbors as well as teachers, coaches, parents or any other authority figure.
People like you probably also thought Joe Camel was harmless, Colt 45 was not manipulative beer marketing and tobacco does not cause cancer.
The issues I raise are well documented in the article above and on the websites provided for any reader and our city attorney to see. They can judge for themselves and determine if your claims ring true.
@business. What business registry do you think they should be listed in? Do you really think minors have the money to buy or rent the house, start the business?
If you want to have ALL businesses that operate in Palo Alto be registered and ALL businesses inspected and have ALL neighbors of ALL businesses vote on whether they want that business run out of a house near them, then you might try getting a ballot measure put together.
And why do you refer to the delivery services as “shady”? Do you think that they are not a real business? Do you think that they are not paying taxes?
It is amazing how much distortion of the facts goes on. How much fear mongering all these topics bring out.
/marc
@Pot_Propaganda Silicon Valley Farms registration page clear show that you need to have a California medical marijuana id and a doctors recommendation.
No this isn’t your local drug dealer going online. Yes, teenagers can get an ID and order legally.
And if you think teens can’t get drugs, alcohol, tobacco as easily as pizza then you probably haven’t raised any children in the last 50 years. It was easy to get when I was a teen in the 1960s/1970’s and it was just as easy when my children were growing up. Access does not mean use.
/marc
@Pot_Propaganda: your posts verge on hysteria, and you are spreading misinformation and fear-mongering. This is a *delivery service*, not a store. You CANNOT register and use this service without being an adult over the age of 18 and in possession of a valid California ID and a valid California Medical Cannabis recommendation. It’s not like popping down to the local store and picking up a lollipop. We are perfectly fine in this country with the legal sale, distribution and use of a deadly substance (alcohol) that results in billions of dollars of costs and damages and kills thousands of people every year, while the death toll from overdose on cannabis remains a shockingly high….wait for it…..*ZERO*. Why are you not railing against the damage to our society from alcohol if you are so concerned about the health of our children? A LOT more teens will have serious issues at some point in the future, and some will die, as a result of their use of alcohol. THAT is an issue worth getting worked up about. In short, I would urge you to actually educate yourself about medical cannabis rather than just relying on what is clearly an utterly uninformed opinion. You have a right to your own opinion, but the FACTS are just that, facts. You don’t get to make those up.
Commenters seem to think as long as this is a delivery service it is not a business. But the portioning and packaging occurs at the home, and delivery people come and pick it up. That creates more traffic on that street, and yes, could attract more crime. It is a business in an R-1 zone, which is not for businesses.
I am glad to hear our city is looking into this. Who would want this business next door?
And an 18 year old can buy this? Not good.
Every single dispensary site and delivery site has a box to check saying you’re 18 years old. Adults have to show their medical marijuana cards to buy anything.
Please stop spreading misinformation.
How do you expect your kids to learn honesty when their parents keep lying? Is that the kind of example you like to set?
Do you enjoy banning the sick from getting painkillers based on your lies?
I have to laugh – Mr. Homework – if you are a Willie Nelson / musician then you are in a unique bubble. That is not the same bubble as those in law enforcement or highly technical jobs that require a quick response. Please recognize that PA is banking on the technical side here. Aerospace included. Most test for drugs as a requirement of employment. All TRUTH is relative – not absolute. Don’t bother answering to me – I have had it with this absurd topic and absurd aasertions.
Well, I am glad we finally dropped the absurd proposition that this is all about “medical treatment.” For what it is worth, before making my claims I did go directly to the Silicon Valley Farms order form on their website (not weedmaps.com) and orders can be placed on line or by phone.
The on-line form only has fields for name, email address, phone, street address, order, special delivery instructions, date and time. I submitted a dummy order without any of the requirements that other posters are saying exist. I suppose the oversight in this robust process is when the delivery guy shows up at the door or drops the package on the porch and asks for other verification?
It doesn’t really matter because even the poster advocates above acknowledge that the only requirements (even if they are validated) are limited to being 18 years old, an ID and a medical recommendation. As other posters have already pointed out, the legal age in CA to buy alcohol and tobacco is 21 and those substances don’t come in the same portfolio of products ideally suited for teenage consumption. I guess in some people’s minds pharmacies should look like candy stores and dispense medications in the form of lollipops, gummy bears, life savers, orange wedges and rainbow sours.
I checked out a few of the prescription web sites to see what it takes to actually get a medical marijuana recommendation and they are about as laughable as one would expect. They coach the applicant on what symptoms to include and some don’t even require a consultation but only filling out a multiple choice form based on those pre-determined ailments to choose from.
If you don’t believe me, check for yourself or go to the following article and video on Forbes – “I Got A Marijuana Prescription And Pot In Minutes Without Leaving My Couch.”
Yes, dear readers the author in San Francisco did get his pot right after he received his sausage pizza that he ordered at the same time.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2015/06/30/eaze-doctor-online-prescription-marijuana-pizza-couch/#435ccbc4677f
According to the article, medicinal marijuana is already a $2.7B a year industry. That’s a lot of Ganga for Glaucoma! The sharks are already circling as they invest tens of millions of VC dollars into the startup community in order to make ordering and delivery of pot as simple as a click of a button. Instead of the pungent smell of pot, we are back to the age old pursuit of the sweet smell of money.
I love the high and mighty attitude of some posters. They have obviously never lived in a community that was decimated by the pot culture, been a part of a family that lost a member to addiction or seen young lives sidetracked to a life of crime only to fall short of their potential. It is not only harmless but is good for you too!
Is it a contradiction that they would be the first to lecture us about eating meat or GMO foods but have no qualms about promoting pot as a health remedy? How is it that they rigorously defend grandpa’s ability to ease his Alzheimers symptoms but have no sympathy for the young who are vulnerable to peer pressure, poor judgement and exploitation?
I applaud PA Online for doing a nice bit of investigative journalism and highlighting this obvious loophole around delivery that is being abused. The medical marijuana farce is being used to enable and expand recreational use and a lot of people hope to profit from it. Maybe that is fine for consenting adults in rich neighborhoods with strong family units and lots of resources to supervise their children. However, it can be devastating to poorer communities, broken families and kids at risk.
If you don’t think the the spirit of our laws are being followed or the safeguards are as airtight as some would have you believe, then reach out to your representatives and let your voice be heard.
@Pot_Propaganda
Just putting it out there, but you’re not really coming across as someone who has “no moral position against marijuana and could care less about what adults do in the privacy of their own home”…
” City Attorney Molly Stump said in an email this week. “Until your email this morning, I wasn’t aware that there is or may be a delivery service being operated out of Palo Alto. … We will need to look into what’s happening and how the existing rules may apply.” “
I’m trying that Molly Stump closes this dangerous loophole asap. As a side benefit, some of the same millenials (who are advocating, at least on PAO, for both high-density housing and unregulated pot delivery services in Palo Alto) may decide that SF is more to their liking.
You didn’t place an order, you just got to the ordering stage. Whoop de doo… Under no circumstances will they give you any cannabis, unless you’ve got a valid and current prescription/card.
Please do not use the gateway drug argument, because that has been debunked.
Cannabis will be accessible by illegally operating person(s) no matter what. So why would you not want it to be accessed legally, with parts of the donation/payment being paid in taxes to the State/City?
It doesn’t make sense
@Nayeli — This is shocking to me that a neighbor can run a pot business out of their home. (I do not want CVS or any pharmacy operating out of a home nearby either, for that matter.) It also is bad news that you only have to be 18. Access to medical use cards are easy to get, so the argument that’s this is only for medical uses is specious. Since it is legal, fine, then the medical drug business should be where other businesses are allowed. But not in R-1 zones!
@Pot_Propaganda: you went to the website, filled in some fields, hit submit, and…..what, exactly? Here’s what: you sent them an email. Good for you. In no way, shape, or form did you order anything, pay for anything, or make any sort of contract to purchase anything. You sent them an email. You are treating it like they are going to FedEx you a kilo of weed overnight. Get real.
Legal cannabis is coming to California. Soon. Palo Alto would be wise to position itself to benefit from a new start-up industry, not surrender to uninformed hysteria.
Some of the posters are obviously using too much of their own products and it is affecting their logic. I think they make great examples for not using it.
Sounds like the PAPD needs to do a simple sting operation and place an order from each of the delivery services for delivery to a “patient” at i.e. Paly or Gunn and see what happens.
@Naliya I am sorry but you are wrong.
There is a large body of legitimate scientific evidence that prolonged Marijuana use is harmful particularly to teenagers. When compared to peer groups that do not use pot, adolescents who use marijuana regularly suffer from lower educational attainment and long term effects on the brain including poorer memory, lower IQ and reduced cognitive function.
The idea that pot is a gateway drug and can be addictive is also well supported. It’s true that the majority of pot users do not use heavy drugs but the majority of heavy drug users do use marijuana, alcohol and nicotine. They are starter drugs that establish the physiological and behavioral patterns of addiction and almost all heavy drug users use them first before moving to more potent substances.
I think you have confused a couple of things so let me clear it up for you. Regular pot use is very bad for developing adolescent brains. Teenage peer groups that do not use pot do consistently better in school and society than those who do use it. Pot (Like nicotine and alcohol) are used heavily by addicts as starter drugs that begin a pattern of dependency. Just because people do illegal things doesn’t mean they should always be made legal.
Minors are a special class and deserve to be protected. I know you believe in the honor system with these pot delivery companies. However, they have already demonstrated a willingness to lie about their objective (medicinal vs recreational) and ignore current laws that prohibit dispensaries in Palo Alto to provide easy access to a vast array of potent products targeted at kids.
To me, opening up our neighborhoods to those folks makes no sense.
There was an incident recently at one of the Palo Alto middle schools where a student brought marijuana candies and brownies to the school and handed them out. Some of the kids new what was in it and some did not. Worst of all, allegedly one of the kid’s parents thought it was funny and helped his child do it during the drug education session in the curriculum. Supposedly several of the kids were disciplined as well as the parent.
The school kept the incident quiet but this article makes me wonder if it is causing a broader problem in our schools. Has anybody else heard of other similar situations at school?
@Its already happening Are you blaming one of the delivery services for bringing the candies and brownies to the school? If not, then how is what you posted relevant?
The problem with a lot of these topic/forums is how off track they get. It is like playing whack-a-mode. If the original argument is false/not supported then everyone brings up tangental issues to make their point.
The topic is NOT about whether marijuana is legal. It is NOT about whether it is easy or not to get a state ID card. It is NOT whether marijuana is a gateway drug.
/marc
Marc, the topic is also NOT whether pot will eventually be legal in CA; it is about whether pot delivery services are appropriate in residential neighborhoods of Palo Alto.
@topic I agree. That was my point.
So why are so many of the posts about what marijuana will do to our kids, how easy it is to get a marijuana medical card? That marijuana has no medical benefits. That some child brought marijuana laced foods to school. That marijuana is a gateway drug, and so on and so on.
The simple question is whether the business of running a marijuana delivery service out of a residential neighborhood has more negative effect than any of the other businesses being run out of residential neighborhoods. And it is not a question of being “appropriate”. It is not a judgement of what type of business.
So is the house being cared for? Is the landscaping neat and tidy? Are there disturbances late at night? Loud music, people hanging around on the street? Are cars parking on the street in front of neighboring homes? Are cars racing down the street? If not, leave them alone.
If the complaints are that a couple of cars drive down the street and park in the home’s driveway and then leave, then that is no different than many of the other home based businesses in Palo Alto.
/marc
Think of it this way. In another post people were complaining about the traffic caused by homeowners renting out their homes on AirBNB. They didn’t like the late night arrivals. The limo’s driving down the street. The loud music late at night. The “strange” people in their neighborhood.
The response was the home owners saying that they were trying to make a living/ends meet by renting out their homes and to stop complaining.
So, do the delivery services have more or less impact on a neighborhood than someone renting out their home via airbnb? It is NOT a question of the business, just a question about impact.
What about the hackerhouses that operate in Palo Alto. I don’t hear anyone complaining about them. They have more traffic, more noise, etc.
/marc
Appropriate to this issue: a major article in the NY Times today about cannabis in California: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/12/us/in-california-marijuana-is-smelling-more-like-big-business.html
Palo Alto should be looking forward on this and planning on a strategy for appropriately regulating and taxing these businesses. Enough talk about “those folks” or “people like that” in your neighborhood. If you do not want legal businesses in your neighborhood, take action to make sure NO legal businesses operate in your neighborhood, but as someone mentioned, be prepared to piss off a lot of your neighbors. In fact, there’s a very good chance your neighbors are ordering that cannabis (legally) to help with medical issues and you are discriminating against them by singling out the businesses that they patronize for some sort of punitive action.
It’s time to grow up and recognize that our societal values have changed and we are no longer held in the grip of uninformed opinion along the lines of “Reefer Madness.” The medical value of cannabis for multiple issues has been well-established and it’s well worth remembering that no one has EVER died as the result of using this substance. The same cannot be said for alcohol, currently the holy grail of “stress relief” and “social lubrication” that our culture holds so close to its heart, and which does untold damage to people’s lives every day.
I you’re worried about delivery services delivering legal goods that people legally orders and on which they paid the taxes, then be consistent and ban all deliveries. That includes Google Express, FedEx, UPS, pizza, Waiters On Wheels, etc.
Otherwise, stop playing doctor for others.
Comparing pot delivery (a substance which is illegal to sell/distribute under Federal law) to pizza delivery is pretty silly. Further, IF someone were running a pizza delivery service out of their home, that would be cause for complaint, since it is a non-residential use. Many subdivisions have explicit CC&R that would make it illegal to run such a business out of the home.
@Dan But where they are located there are NO CC&R restrictions. And it IS legal to sell under state law. And people are running cooking/food delivery services out of their homes in Palo Alto. Just take a look on NextDoor for all the local people that will offer to deliver to you home cooked ethnic meals.
/marc
The people who are ordering pot delivery are doing so just as legally as the rest of us order pizza and/or from food delivery service like Munchery.
There is a write-up in the Chronicle concerning this topic – this story based in Oakland. I will take the legal position as provided in the Chronicle over any protestations noted in here. There is also a lay out of the laws and applicability dates.
The Palo Alto City Attorney and City Council will need to decide whether or not we want to have pot delivery services operating in residential neighborhoods. Pros: It’s more convenient for patients, as well as adults who like to use pot recreationally (the vast majority of customers), to obtain pot. Cons: It’s also more convenient for teens to obtain pot, and there’s a negative impact on neighbors (including potentially lower property values).
Decision- do you have any real facts to back up the claims you are making
That:
1 the vast majority of customers are recreational users ( first of all you do not know who the customers are. Second you have to have a card to get the pot. )
2 that teens are obtaining pot from that location ( again there is no basis for this claim. This place only delivers, it does not sell product)
Not sure some posters feel the need to engage fear mongering and blatant misrepresentations.
resident 1 please provide a link to the Chronicle article you mentioned. Thank you.
The pro pot deliveries commenters seem to be unaware that there already are restrictions in place about running businesses in your R-1 home. For example, it is legal to give music lessons at your home but it is not allowed to have a music school. And these kinds of disagreements about what is allowed/or disallowed have come up before.
The city attorney will have to look into this. Generally, if the business is large and impacts the neighbors, then it is discouraged.
Why can’t the pot dispensaries be located in business zones?
The article appears in the Business Report 10 April – “Work with Medical Pot? You need a doctor’s note”. There was another article this week but paper is now out in the pick-up.
I agree with pamom- move your business to some commercial zoned area that is not in a residential area. That is where this all hangs up – be smart and move it to a commercial space. The ability to legitimize your business as compared to other recognized forms of businesses is not making it. When you turn in your tax return what does it say? It comes down to how you are reporting what you do to both the city, county, and state. You are not reporting anything if the city attorney does not know you exist. You do not get any free passes – no one else does. Knock yourself out with all type of explanations but you are not thinking this through if you want to be a real business. No free passes.
People who run a business in their homes declare that on their tax returns so they can write-off a part of the home where that business is conducted and the income / expenses attributed to that business. And they usually have some type of filing for a tax code for that business. So is any one doing that?
As to one of your other arguments contractors who come to your house have to be registered with the city. And have to have the proper certifications for what they are doing.
@resident 1 I’m not sure why you think the city attorney has to know about a business existing to make it legal. There are lots of businesses run out of homes in Palo Alto . They all pay their required Federal, County and State taxes and file all their legally required forms. There is no requirement to tell the city attorney anything.
They are all real businesses. No one is getting or asking for a free pass.
@Pamom. Yes there are restrictions. I don’t think a delivery service is breaking any of them. They are NOT running a storefront. Customers are NOT coming to their location.
/marc
Are you renting your house or do you own it? If you are renting then the home owner could be set up for some unpleasant legal / financial actions. Suggest that home owners check out what the renters are doing and the resultant blow-back that could arise. Life is being complicated for a number of people who may have no knowledge of what is happening on their property. The ultimate property owner is paying the property taxes on the home as well as insurance / upgrade / repair on the home. Check it out homeowner. The homeowner is ultimately responsible for cleaning up the mess
@resident 1 How do you know that the delivery services don’t own the homes they are working out of? Even if they are renting, why are you assuming that they are damaging the home? What “mess” do you think the owner is going to have to clean up?
Are you equating a delivery service with a meth lab? Or a grow house? Or a party house? Or an opium drug den with people lying around with needles hanging out of their arms?
BTW, from one of your previous posts, contractors do NOT have to register with the city. They do have to have a valid STATE license.
/marc
“Why can’t the pot dispensaries be located in business zones? “
They are, but we are talking about delivery service…different than a dispensary where customers visit.
Why can’t “garage startups” move their business to a commercial zone? Should the city attorney be involved there as well?
@Jimmy Here, Here:
I think the city attorney and the police should start a house by house search throughout Palo Alto for anyone running ANY type of business out of a residence. No home consulting. No airbnb. No hackerhouses. No homemade foods/dinners/cookies. No Avon/Amway/MLM, No group homes, No growing fruits to sell at the local farmers markets. No home based contractors, dog washing, dog sitting. No artists working out of their homes. No startups trying to create the next “disruptive” technology. If you do anything in any way that could be construed by anyone to be a “business” then you can’t do it out of a residence.
This is Palo Alto and homes are reserved for eating, sleeping and raising children. Oops, sorry, No home based day care, either.
/marc
Remember when accredited doctors paid by tobacco companies proclaimed that tobacco smoking was beneficial to one’s health! Seems the next generation is as gullible to the “benifits” of “medicinal” marijuana. I am sure once the “benefit” becomes a vice someone one will figure out a litagation angle to gain monetary reimbursement. Too funny!
Nobody who supports legalization should be defending lazy, sketchy companies like Peninsula Greens. There are many people in the marijuana industry who believe in what they’re doing and are motivated by a desire to help patients, Peninsula Greens is not one of these companies.
Their cutting corners has made everyone trying to play by the rules or, yes, operate successfully and discretely in what is indeed a gray area look bad. These delivery services have existed for years without getting the attention of the city. They exist to serve a specific purpose (to get marijuana to patients discretely; personally I don’t like going to a public place like a dispensary to buy marijuana) and now Peninsula Greens has done the impossible and drawn attention to these services.
As someone who believes in marijuana and benefits from marijuana delivery services I can now only hope the city doesn’t ban them outright thanks to the flagrant disregard for the law that Peninsula Greens has shown.
Bob, I’m curious: what is Peninsula Greens doing (or not doing) that the other MC delivery services aren’t?
@more info, check out this article from February where Eaze defends their Palo Alto delivery operation: http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_29474301/medical-marijuana-delivery-startup-makes-pitch-palo-alto
Eaze is one of the few services really thinking in the long term and attempting to work with city government to come to an understanding about marijuana delivery. Note that City Attorney Molly Stump said, “Until your email this morning, I wasn’t aware that there is or may be a delivery service being operated out of Palo Alto…” The important detail about this quote is that Stump said she wasn’t aware of any delivery service being operated OUT OF Palo Alto. The city was perfectly aware of delivery services coming into Palo Alto to make deliveries.
This is off-topic but still interesting. Below is how Palo Alto is described on webehigh.org. Note that Town & Country is listed as one of the best places to find a dealer. Also note the claim that most of the stuff comes from Cannabis Clubs (medical marijuana dispensaries) in San Francisco. I think it’s more likely that it comes through the usual shady routes of Mexican cartels growing on California’s public lands.
Palo Alto, CA, California
Smoking tolerance level [1= very illegal 5=virtually legal]: 4
Legislation: Marijuana is illegal, but everyone smokes it. From the high school kids, at Gunn and Paly, to the Stanford students, to the suburban mothers, Palo Alto is a weed hungry town.
Possession of 28.5 grams or less of marijuana is not an arrestable offense. As long as the offender can provide sufficient identification and promises to appear in court, the officer will not arrest the offender. Upon conviction of the misdemeanor charge the offender is subject to a fine of $100. Possession of greater than 28.5 grams is punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $500.
Law enforcement: The police are easy to avoid. On Stanford campus you can pretty much smoke anywhere because Stanford Security patrols that area and they don’t really care. Other good places to smoke are San Francisquito Creek (in the dry season) or just walking down a residential street at night (make sure to keep moving.) If a cop rolls up on you, my advice is to just play it cool. As long as he didn’t see you smoking and you play it cool you probably won’t get searched. If they try to bust you just run like hell through somebodies backyard and they’ll probably give up on chasing you after a couple blocks.
Where to buy marijuana: Lytton Plaza on University Avenue in downtown Palo Alto is usually teaming with dealers. Most of them are College students. Just go up to someone who looks sketchy and ask if they have any bud.
Town and Country Shopping Center is another place to go if Lytton Plaza is empty. This place isn’t as reliable, but you might run into a dealer if school is in session or has just ended.
Marijuana prices: Usually it goes
$20 for about 1.5 grams
$40/$45 for 1/8 ounce
$80/$90 for 1/4 ounce
$200 for 1 ounce
Marijuana brands: In Palo Alto you get alot of Purple strains. Most of the stuff comes from the Cannabis Clubs in San Francisco so there’s endless variety. Sometimes dealers will tell you what strain your getting.
The topic of pot came up tonight in the NY debates. Bernie says NO – it is heading in the wrong direction. Back to PA and a Delivery Business in a residential house – the house has to contain inventory to deliver. That makes the house a target for people who are aware of the house containing inventory and makes that a danger to the rest of the surrounding homes.
If you are making the argument that all of the people who would know about this are “normal people” then you have not followed the progression of the pot business and the personalities of the suppliers who include the cartels protecting their profit.
If the business is obvious then you are affecting the ability of the surrounding residents to sell their homes with no contingencies. You are now getting into other people’s investments in their homes. That is a NO-NO.
If you want to do this business then it needs to be conducted in a commercial environment outside of the residential zoned area.
And the cities position to date that was mentioned above presumes that the inventory is not coming from a home but a commercial location from which it is delivered.
I grew up in Los Angeles and these people do not fool around. I have relatives in law enforcement who know what is going on across the country. We cannot have our city carved into zones where “other business” is conducted – just watch if any one tries to do that. And yes the people mentioned above in the downtown are obvious – they look like they have no other way to survive.
Maybe we need some dogs at the PAO and have some type of security policy regarding any suspected incoming inventory. You will note that SFO and SJC are very careful aware of any drug transfers. We do not need our county airports to be the drug highway.
Yes, few realize this has been going on for at least 20 years. The doom/gloom folks have already been proven wrong by time and they don’t even realize it.
Close down their precious wine stores…we can tie many many deaths directly to alcohol. Lets get serious about public safety if that is your concern; we’ll start with BevMo.
20 years – you are missing the point here. The point is that zoning is for residential and commercial. Bev-Mo is in a commercial zone. As is CVS and Walgreens who have drug and alcohol inventories. You will note that alcohol has regulations concerning the age to buy as do cigarettes. Pharmacies have certified professionals who run the drug sections.
Commercial services with designated tax requirements are in a commercial zone. You do not have Bev-MO going up next to your home. The city needs to think through what the point of zoning is. Walgreens on University has a small side store which I believe was set up for pot sales when we had the last vote in PA on this. But PA voted NO to pot sales in a commercial zone. So that is the issue that needs to be worked out here.
I am sure that the mom and pop pot seller is not thrilled about that. And the people who transport via highway or by air are not thrilled about this. If controlled at SFO and SJC then should also be controlled at the local county and city airports. Stories on the pot store in Oakland are always popping up as well as other locations but those are in commercial zones.
OMG, did everyone miss the story that the war on pot has failed? Utterly and completely. It might as well be prohibition in the 20’s? Some are actually proposing the citizens begin to pay to have drug agents checking all inbound shipments to Palo Alto? For pot?!?! What percentage tax increase will that one take? haha. Also, don’t you realize the supply is coming from 100 small sources and independent growers both here in town and from all over.
It all comes in via small trucks, vans and passenger cars. Much of it is grown right in the immediate area. Feel free top play “Whack-a-mole” all you want, but the war is over and the anti-cannabis folks have lost.
I would hope that people who have suggestions on what to do with this issue would have the BASIC understanding of how it all works. Obviously some don’t need to know the facts since they already have their opinion 😉
Gee OMG – we have people comparing what they are doing with their mom and pop operations to Walgreens and CVS – companies on the stock exchange. And all of your wineries are part of the business scene for Napa, et all. You have offered no BASIC business plan for this if you want to legalize it. But Mom and Pop do not want to legalize it because then they will have to compete with the big boys. And they will be in big trouble when that happens. And they get such a thrill to be part of the counter culture and say they are Progressive – that is part of their selling strategy. After 100 years of this it gets old – very old. There is nothing new under the sun – just how you manage it.
And again, the facts don’t add up. What you describe as what MIGHT happen, has factually NOT happened. Walgreens and CVS are not selling cannabis in WA and CO. In fact no “Big Boys” have expressed interest in doing that.
Also, you seem to know a lot of people in this industry if you can speak for them and how they think and what they want.
Or, you don’t know anyone in this industry and you’re projecting.
PA is poised to be the first State to use the legislature to approve cannabis use:
“At one time, I was opposed to the idea of allowing doctors to prescribe medical marijuana,†said Republican House Majority Leader Dave Reed to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “But after researching the issue, reviewing the laws in other states, and reading about the struggles of families the drug would help, I came to realize that it is wrong to withhold something that could benefit so many.â€
That is an example of someone utilizing the facts to form their opinion and not operating on pure ideology.
It is no coincidence that this topic has come up now. The SJM has an article today “Marijuana delivery studied” – San Jose city policy issue. Page B5. San Jose already has registered pot stores which are located in industrial areas.
The topic now is home delivery. Note that San Jose has an excess of industrial buildings “for lease” as does PA in it’s meager industrial zones.
We do not have the same demographics as San Jose.
The topic on the table now is if the “delivery service” is located in a residential home which would presumably have inventory it is delivering.
Look at the open houses – young people who want to pay high prices to be in the school system. These people are not buying into the residential area to be next door to a home delivery service. And those pieces of information are not on the table to inform new home buyers what is going on in their neighborhood.
Stick to the issue at hand here.
I got my deliveries last week and over the weekend. Itr’s the only way to get cannabis based medicine in PA so, ya, deliveries.
I feel sorry for people who have not accepted the war on pot is over AND the world did not end. It seems they have all sorts of fears about the future, yet the future has been going on for 20+ years without the manifestation of those fears occurring. In other words, they had it wrong from the start.
If you’re still upset, you can always drink alcohol.
Be careful though, unlike cannabis, alcohol is a a deadly drug that takes countless lives in our society.
@look at me — maybe you are getting a little too buzzed. You are missing the point. As has been mentioned numerous times, this is about whether or not MJ delivery businesses should be allowed in R-1 zoned homes. While I am certain you don’t care, there are many others who do, and do not think it should be allowed in R-1 zones.
And for those who say, well then there should be absolutely no businesses run from homes, this is a topic that has come up before in Palo Alto and is to some extent addressed in the city codes. Some small businesses are allowed and some are not.
There’s been no word from either the City Attorney or City Council since this article was published 2 weeks ago. Are they planning to make any changes or hoping the outcry from residents will gradually quiet down so they don’t need to do anything about the situation? Will a city referendum be necessary?
Based on the fact that there is a action in San Jose regarding this topic I suspect that this has been floated out to see what the reaction here in PA so that the city can gauge what type of action they would take. However the action in San Jose is based on a proposition which is presenting a legal action on the part of the city. At this point PA has no legal action on the table so taking no action is a poor choice.
There was a convention at the Cow Palace so every one who is into it is busy, and we have 4/20 comimg up.
Note that the action is regarding the Delivery Service being located in a R-1 zone. A Delivery Service by definition has to have inventory to deliver located in the home. Is you are receiving a delivery that is a separate topic. Don’t confuse the two.
Warehousing large amounts of pot in R-1 zones is a bad idea. In addition to the greater traffic burden from a delivery business, the inventory also creates a lucrative target for criminals and a health hazard in the case of a fire.
I don’t think pot is like any other home business. I suppose gun stores could make the same argument for setting up distribution centers in neighborhoods. Would anybody object to a garage full of ammunition sitting next door?
Should gift basket delivery companies be allowed in residential areas?
How about home based EBay businesses running deliveries out of a residential neighborhood?
Shhh!!! Guess what? The city wants this business because it can get tax revenue from it. The citizens said that did not want dispensaries, so there can be no tax windfall from them as other cities are enjoying. The delivery system allows them to say “We don’t have dispensaries” to the cliched bottom crowd, but still be able to get a little bit of the beneficial tax money that other cities are now enjoying.
@ Same Harm,
You are making a false equivalency. There is a difference for the following reasons:
1. A local delivery service is a logistics hub rather than a mail order/internet business. The traffic burden is higher.
2. Pot is a controlled substance and thus a potential health and safety risk to the neighbors when stored in large amounts.
Driving once a day or week to UPS is different than multiple times a day through the neighborhood. Is a fleet of delivery cars acceptable and would you be willing to have an unlimited number of vehicles operating out of the home?
What type of security systems would be appropriate to protect inventory? Would you advocate regulations requiring safes, barbed wire fences and security cameras like other hazardous substances?
Additionally, what would happen in a house fire? Would neighbors need to be evacuated and would fire fighters need to wear hazmat suits? Would you support regulations to register delivery sites with police and fire stations?
I would oppose any home based business that has the above issues. You should at least apply the same the same attributes when you come up with your comparisons.
Everything in its place. This will get hashed out by the city (No pun intended).
I’m just glad the war on pot is over and people finally have “anytime they need it” access to this very benign alternative to dangerous prescribed drugs, street drugs or alcohol.
The noise the opposition used to create has now just faded into the background as legalization steps closer.
According to SFGate, there’s a huge gathering in Golden Gate Park today (4/20) of medicinal cannabis “patients” jointly taking their “medication” (pun intended).
No need for a delivery service. For utmost convenience, why don’t we allow “medical” marijuana in vending machines and ice cream trucks throughout the neighborhood?
It would give the good humor man a whole new meaning 🙂
Actually, the celebration in SF is for recreational users. There’s no real mention of medical users for this event, though many likely have discovered the medicinal benefits and have their cards. Its an annual thing that, IMO, showcases just how silly the laws regarding cannabis are.
The problem is that nobody is officially sponsoring the “event” so you have huge crowds with no security or other infrastructure to support such crowds. As with any celebratory gathering like this, you’re very likely going to have problems, no matter what the reason for the gathering.
That said, I’m always astounded at the generally well behaved crowd. The cannabis has got to play a part in that (haha) If it were alcohol instead of cannabis the problems would likely be exponentially worse.
With all the drug dealer deliverys going on these days in Palo Alto it reminds me of Surrey BC. Nice upscale town where many citizens have a huge drug addiction problem
“Nice upscale town where many citizens have a huge drug addiction problem”
This might sound sound credible and not exaggerated with a few additional facts:
Please define “huge drug addiction problem” compared with small drug addiction problems.
Also, and most importantly: What percentage of the population is afflicted? You must know to make the above statement if so please tell us the percentage.
One thing to note, this has been going on for 2 decades now, and I don’t see any issues here in Palo Alto other than a relaxed attitude and a more knowledgeable public as to the perceived dangers that we were told would happen 20 years ago, but never did.
A huge drug addiction problem? Riiiiiiiight.
We sure wouldn’t want terminal cancer patients and/or MS and/or Parkinson’s sufferers to become addicted. Think of the children.
Ooop. I meant those so addicted to prescription pain killers that there were SuperBowl ads for anti-constipation drugs for those suffering from constipation due to prescription pain killers.
The amount of trash that has to be cleaned up in Golden Gate Park is telling it all. All of the 4/20 activity was conducted with no responsible party – no requirement for clean up – just trash the city. A lot of money wasted for the clean-up. People just cannot clean-up after themselves. It is a lowering of the standards for event participation.
People today can get pot if they want it. There is a pot store in Mountain View in the industrial area. If you want cigarettes, liquor, or pot you have to go get in your car and go get it from some entity that is licensed to sell it. It is already there if you want it.
The question on the table is if some group of people are holding inventory in a R-1 house that are not licensed to sell it. They are not paying taxes on it. It is not a licensed business.
Please stop comparing this business to those that are licensed and controlled.