Cannabis industry experts who want medical marijuana delivery services to operate in Marin County are working to dispel what they call “a culture of fear.”
While there are concerns in Marin that medical cannabis dispensaries would bring increased traffic, crime and youth access to marijuana, “what we’ve seen is none of those things have happened” in other states, said Sabrina Fendrick, director of government affairs at Berkeley Patient Group, a medical cannabis dispensary and supplier.
Joining Fendrick on the three-member panel on Tuesday were Nurit Raphael, founder of ONA.life, a boutique cannabis delivery service in Marin County and president of the Marin County Courier Association, and Shabnam Malek, founding partner of Brand and Branch LLP and president of the National Cannabis Bar Association.
About 50 people attended the luncheon, which was part of the LinkedIn Local Marin Brown Bag Speaker Series at the Marin Builders Association building in San Rafael.
Panelists discussed the county and state regulations and licensing, the future of cannabis as a business, all with a focus of de-stigmatizing the cannabis industry.
While eight states have legalized recreational marijuana and 30 permit medical cannabis, the federal government classifies cannabis as a Schedule I narcotic.
Fendrick, who also founded the NORML Women’s Alliance, a coalition advocating to end marijuana prohibition, is the spokeswoman for Marin Community Partners, which was seeking to obtain one of four licenses from the county to operate a dispensary in unincorporated Novato.
The Board of Supervisors in May rejected all 10 applications for dispensaries in unincorporated Marin, directing staff to look into the possibility of amending the county’s medical cannabis dispensary ordinance to limit dispensaries to making deliveries only.
County staff is expected to publish the draft ordinance at the end of August and hold a community workshop on Sept. 7, said Inge Lundegaard, a planner with the Community Development Agency and program manager of the medical cannabis ordinance.
Fendrick said that she and others have been working closely with the county. She said if the county’s ordinance contains language that could potentially have negative “impacts or implications,” there has been talk of collecting signatures to place a measure on the ballot.
After the forum, Fendrick said that it would be a last resort, and that “I want Marin’s cannabis policy to be sensible and responsible and reflective of what the community truly wants.”
Raphael pointed out the majority of Marin voters last year approved Prop. 64, about 70 percent, according to the county registrar. Marin was one of the top three counties supporting the measure, along with San Francisco and Santa Cruz counties.
Raphael said she is able to operate her medical cannabis delivery service under the Proposition 215 collective law.
She said through the Marin County Couriers Association she is trying to band together other delivery business in the county and educate the community and city officials about “how we work with what our patients need, the benefits of cannabis,” and explain “that we are just good people trying to help others.”
Malek said there is “a lot of fear mongering that goes on around this idea of what happens if a child consumes edibles.”
Malek said that policy concern is what drives a lot of the laws and regulations and that five of seven pending bills before the state Legislature are focused on keeping cannabis out of the hands of children.
She explained that there are rules about child-proof packaging, that cartoon characters and colorful labels are not allowed, and other laws designed to downplay the appeal of cannabis to the youth, especially edibles.
The panelists explained that it is illegal to receive cannabis in the mail, especially from out of state, and warned against making online mail orders.
They clarified that delivery services are legal when the cannabis is being delivered by a person. New state law will require that courier to be in motor vehicle, and that the driver can only take the cannabis from the supplier to the patient and no where else.
Overall, the panelists said that over the years as there have been more laws and regulations put into place, that the cannabis industry has matured and is a lot more professional.
Those in the audience were pleased with the forum, including Mark Susnow, of San Anselmo, who uses medical marijuana for arthritis, he said.
“I’m glad that it has come to this place,” he said. “When you go into a dispensary, they tell you exactly what you are getting, what type of cannabis you need for your ailment. I’m glad that they’re working here to educate the public.”