While most of the country is embroiled in debate on marijuana legalization, for the past 10 years many Oakland residents have been taking advantage of Measure Z, which makes private use of pot by adults the Police Department’s lowest enforcement priority.
Since the measure passed in 2004, so-called Measure Z clubs — speakeasies of sorts — have popped up all over Oakland. They sell pot to adults with little interference from the city. But after years of a hands-off, quiet enforcement approach, Oakland police have raided and shut down three clubs in the past few months.
Joe DeVries, staffer for Oakland’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission, says that, in the past, Measure Z clubs have closed after the city received complaints from neighboring businesses, residents or sometimes concerned parents and were told to shut their doors.
“Since Measure Z popped up, the city has taken the abatement approach, and that has been enough,” DeVries says. “Send a letter, request a visit or schedule a visit, and that was enough.”
In two of the recent cases, cease-and-desist letters were sent to the now-closed Measure Z clubs after the city got numerous complaints. But the clubs stayed open and “forced the city’s hand,” DeVries says.