Orangevale medical pot dispensary capital's first to unionize
Published: Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 6B
A nearly 2-year-old Orangevale medical marijuana dispensary said Monday that it has become the first in the Sacramento area to unionize.
The 20 employees at Magnolia Wellness at 9198 Greenback Lane are now active members of UFCW 8, also known as the Golden State United Food and Commercial Workers Union.
"We are extremely happy to have Magnolia Wellness on board," said Darin Ferguson, district union representative of UFCW 8. "We believe they are a legitimate business providing an important service in their community."
UFCW claims more than 30,000 members throughout the western United States. Full union benefits include paid health insurance, paid vacations/holidays, bereavement leave and individual savings plans.
"We are a real business helping real people with ailments," said David Spradlin, Magnolia's director. "By becoming part of a strong union, we are letting our employees, patients and the community know that we are here for the long run."
Unionization adds another level of uncertainty amid a recent federal crackdown on local medical cannabis dispensaries – actions that have produced widely varying opinions among legal, medical and government experts.
Federal officials have threatened to seize California properties of landlords who lease to dispensaries or medical marijuana cultivators.
The feds' campaign was bolstered earlier this month when the state's 2nd District Court of Appeal said that the city of Long Beach's dispensary plan was an "obstacle" to federal drug law.
The California League of Cities said that ruling prompted city governments statewide to take a hard look at their ordinances governing medical marijuana dispensaries.
Unionization efforts in California's medical marijuana industry are not new.
Last year, UFCW Local 5 in San Jose began organizing marijuana "bud tenders," greenhouse workers, packagers and laboratory technicians. At the time, Dan Rush, the union's director of special operations, said: "If we were not on top of this industry and its emergence, we would be asleep at the wheel."
Other mainstream industries have dabbled in the medical marijuana industry.
In March last year, Rancho Cordova-based Statewide Insurance Services launched what was billed as the first nationally available insurance coverage designed specifically for the medical marijuana industry.
The door for in-state dispensaries and commercial insurers opened in 1996, when California voters approved Proposition 215, which allowed physicians to recommend cannabis for cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraines or "any other illness for which marijuana provides relief."
The number of dispensaries skyrocketed in 2009, when the Obama administration said it would not arrest marijuana growers and sellers who abide by state laws.
However, wildfire growth of the industry has faltered amid the recent federal crackdown, which included targeting of dispensaries in Sacramento. Federal officials claim that California's medical marijuana law has been hijacked by profiteers looking to gain from ungoverned, widespread drug sales in the dispensaries.
Spradlin, a former construction contractor, and others opened Magnolia Wellness in the Greenback Lane office complex in January 2010. At the beginning of this year, the center claimed a clientele of 7,500 medical pot users.
Call The Bee's Mark Glover, (916) 321-1184.
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/10/25/4004341/orangevale-medical-pot-dispensary.html#ixzz1bmwjLG5R
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