Brian Hyman is giving up the fight to keep open Walnut Creek’s controversial medical marijuana dispensary. The CEO of C3 Collective said that he’ll close his Oakland Boulevard business Monday, a month after a Superior Court judge ordered the dispensary to close by Tuesday or face contempt-of-court charges.
C3 Collective opened in August, but it has been a bumpy ride to say the least. While the business, which claimed it offered legitimate, legal services only to people with medical marijuana prescriptions, the city immediately moved to close it down. The city, which is still studying the issue of whether it wants to allow any kind of medical marijuan dispensary within its borders, said the collective violated city zoning laws and slapped it with a $500-a-day fine.
Hyman talked about how he did the meet-and-greet with city, business and police officials–to support him staying open. The collective went so far as to join the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce, a move that accorded it this ribbon-cutting welcome by chamber representatives (Hyman is more optimistic times, back in October, when he hosted Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce members at its ribbon-cutting opening.)
Finally, the judge agreed with the city and ordered the collective closed. Hyman says he will fight the penalties, which have accumulated to more than $60,000.
Crazy in Suburbia 
Can anyone tell me how an elderly patient with limited mobility can have access to medical marijuana in Walnut Creek? Are there delivery services? I'm talking about people with a genuine need. Do they have to travel to Oakland?
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Can't they get it at CVS? I know they can't, but if it's such an important treatment that's the place it should be distributed.
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There are delivery services. Internet search “marijuana delivery – Walnut Creek” You'll get at least 8 hits, and all of them are cheaper than C3! Plus, they are more convenient (front door service – no parking hassles, etc.)
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Our modern day Prohibition, eventually something's got to give.
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Wouldn't it be great if CVS could distribute cannabis? Call your congressperson for that one. As long as cannabis remains a schedule 1 controlled substance federally it can not be controlled by DEA approved pharmacist. One day maybe. As for now, collectives provide a great service to the communities they serve. Most herbal medicines and supplements are not controlled by pharmacies. It is too bad C-3 decided to follow the bad advice of an overzealous attorney and it cost him over $50,000 to boot. Kids…what are you going to do? Will the Creek get on board with medical cannabis in the near future? Maybe. Not likely but maybe. Only time will tell. The political fear will probably stifle the reality that medical cannabis dispensing collectives are safe and a valuable resource to the community.
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Benefits of Having A Dispensing Collective in Your Community
Dispensing collectives provide benefits to the sick and suffering in your community. Dispensaries remove common barriers to accessing cannabis medicines. Often patients are not skilled or physically able to cultivate their medicines. A rapid onset of a serious illness normally does not afford a patient the several months and extensive costs it takes to produce quality cannabis medicines. A dispensary can provide these medicines as an alternative to potentially dangerous illicit transactions.
Dispensing collectives provide psychosocial health benefits to patients in your community. Often patients find more than just safe and effective medicines in a collective setting. They find a community to be a part of and in turn experience much higher levels of satisfaction and wellness than a patient who is isolated away from others.
Dispensing collectives provide key heath and social services to their patients. Dispensaries offer a wide array of cannabis therapies, giving patients the opportunity to share experiences on what may work best for different afflictions and find different methods of ingestion, such as tinctures and extracts to treat their symptoms. Collectives also provide a vast selection of social services to their patients, including counseling, support groups, help with housing and meals, hospice care, and alternative therapies like massage and yoga. These support services give most patients the opportunity to experience and try treatments they normally could not afford or known existed.
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Dispensing collectives increase public safety in the areas around them. Many cities and towns have found that crime and unwanted behaviors have decreased in an area where a well-run and regulated dispensing collective exists. Collectives take security seriously, often employing multiple security guards and implementing security cameras and alarm systems. These are natural deterrents to those who engage in unwanted behaviors and they normally move to a less monitored area, increasing safety for the collective and the neighborhood it serves.
Dispensing collectives are good neighbors and can revitalize an area. Collectives instill good neighbor policies with their members that encourage them to be conscious and positive forces in the areas around the collective. A collective brings new people to the area to access services, which brings foot traffic to neighboring businesses and increases the vitality of the neighborhood by bringing customers to areas they normally would not visit. They patronize other businesses for convenience.
Dispensing collectives create jobs in the community. With unemployment rates at extremely high levels, it is important to realize that a dispensing collective will employ at least 10-15 people, including management, service personnel, security, and community liaison positions.
Dispensing collectives provide much needed revenue through business and sales taxes. A well-run dispensing collective can provide a great deal of revenue through normal business taxes and to the county through sales taxes. Oakland passed Measure F in July 2009 taxing collectives at 1.8% or 15 times the normal business rate. The measure passed with 80% of voters’ approval. Many other cities are putting the same type of measure on the upcoming ballots for special election.
Collectives are not for profit organizations. Collectives use excess revenue to fund local projects and worthwhile organizations, such as food banks, homeless shelters, and educational assistance funds.
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FYI- There is a typo in this article, and it should be noted
“City officials issued a daily fine of $500, which has accumulated to nearly $6,000.”
Somebody missed a digit. C3 Collective has been fined up to $65,800 as of the March 17th letter from Jennifer Wakeman of the Administrative Services Department, City of Walnut Creek, 'Delinquent Account Notice'.
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I love it that Jay Hoyer is pictured. What a tool! Hey guys, pot is NOT a some wonder drug. It does way more harm than good.
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Do you have evidence to back that up? vs. Pharma? vs. Alcohol? vs. Tobacco? vs. Asprin? Where is the evidence? There is none. Cannabis is safer by far. Look it up. UC Study releases this past month proves cannabis is an effective treatment for pain, even in low doses, making it a more effective natural and affordable pain medicine. Look it up: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/02/17/2544345/getting-high-not-needed-for-pot.html
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C3 was great. They had a well run dispensary, and the medicine was potent. Loved having the SAFE convenience and the professional environment.
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anon. 12:46:
I use medical pot to maintain remission in ulcerative colitis. I'm a Ph.D. immunologist, degree from a major medical school. The literature is REPLETE with studies that describe WHY (the mechanisms) it does work, for me and others.
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Oh gosh, what will the potheads do now? Walnut Creek did the right thing. For every sick person getting his “medicine” there are 10 potheads just looking to catch a buzz. Good riddance.
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WOw medical mariguana that is good to make a lot of people very happy ,i know for a fact that this alkaloid will help some terminal disease people .
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Excellent and informative blog. Thanks for posting this. I’ve already bookmarked it. I’ve been reading many blogs related to this topic. But I feel your blog tops them all. Thanks
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Thanks John,
I also have a new website for the Walnut Creek community, Walnut Creek Patch. WalnutCreek.Patch.com, where I'll also be following this medical marijuna issue.
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Fined for zoning? wow that was amusing. Building an establishment like that is itself a crime. Marijuana's so called medical benefits are just boosted and marketed by drug cartels.
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Its hard to think how they can get necessary permits to build these so called “medical facilities”. Are they even legal? Marijuana does more harm to health than good and should be banned in all places.
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