Oregon: Cannabis Lounge owner convicted

This is bad news, hope its not an omen of things to come...

Kathleen Cambron, owner of Wake 'n Bake Cannabis Lounge, pleads guilty to drug charges in Washington County

Published: Tuesday, August 23, 2011, 3:01 PM Updated: Tuesday, August 23, 2011, 7:50 PM

By Emily E. Smith, The Oregonian

Following a hearing Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court, attorney Celia Howes (left) addresses reporters with her client, Kathleen Cambron, owner of Wake 'n Bake Cannabis Lounge in Aloha. Cambron pleaded guilty to drug charges in the state's first criminal prosecution of a marijuana dispensary owner. Cambron, a medical marijuana cardholder, said she opened her business to make legally grown marijuana safely and easily accessible to other cardholders.
The owner of Wake 'n Bake Cannabis Lounge in Aloha pleaded guilty to drug charges and was sentenced to probation Tuesday in the state's first prosecution of a case against the owner of a medical marijuana dispensary.

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Kathleen O'Shea Cambron, 44, was arraigned in Circuit Court on two counts of delivery of marijuana. In a plea agreement, she pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to three years of probation.

Deputy District Attorney Bracken McKey said law enforcement began investigating Cambron after she was quoted in a newspaper article that explored the medical marijuana marketplace in Oregon.

In a January article in Willamette Week, Cambron denied selling the drug, but said her business was a "cannabis exchange," where marijuana was "available for reimbursement."

Under state law, medical marijuana cardholders can either become authorized pot growers or obtain pot from a designated, authorized grower. The grower cannot accept payment for the product; patients can reimburse growers only for the cost of growing the plant.

Cambron's business charged medical marijuana cardholders a $20 membership fee and sold legally grown pot in amounts ranging from one-eighth ounce to 1 ounce, McKey said. Wake 'n Bake purchased pot from authorized growers, McKey said, but that sale was also illegal.

U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton issued a statement, signed by 33 Oregon district attorneys, in June warning dispensary owners that selling marijuana, even for medical use, was illegal. The statement told owners they faced the risk of prosecution.

Days later, Westside Interagency Narcotics investigators served a search warrant at Cambron's business. McKey said detectives seized 24.4 pounds of marijuana, 68 plants, seven guns, prescriptions drugs and 169 miscellaneous items including medicated desserts such as brownies.

A Facebook page for Wake 'n Bake advertised a variety of "eatable medicated" cookies, candies, lemon bars, Chex mix and more.

Cambron's attorney, Celia Howes, said her client opened Wake 'n Bake to help other medical marijuana cardholders access their medication safely.

As a patient who was prescribed medical marijuana for debilitating pain following an ATV accident, Cambron discovered that obtaining safe, legally grown pot was not easy, Howes said. She saw a marijuana lounge as a solution to that problem.

Cambron consulted two attorneys while crafting her business model and tried to follow the law, Howes said.

After the hearing before Judge Eric Butterfield, Cambron said she started her business to help other patients prescribed medical marijuana.

"I believed I was doing the right thing," she said.

Howes said passing Measure 74 would have provided a legal model for pot dispensaries, meeting a need for patients who have limited ways of obtaining the drug.

"There's a real disparity right now between the number of patients and the number of growers," she said.

As part of her sentence, Cambron was also ordered to undergo an evaluation and complete any recommended drug treatment. She may no longer participate in the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program.

-- Emily E. Smith

wow sounds like they are about to shut shit down in oregon as well...


first RI then montana then mi now oregon?

Wiggs Dannyboy said:

As part of her sentence, Cambron was also ordered to undergo an evaluation and complete any recommended drug treatment. She may no longer participate in the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program.

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Excuse me, but how the Fuck can they deny her access to her doctor recommended medicine!!!???!!!

And under go drug treatment?? WTF??

crime against humanity in a medical state.

Ugh. It sounds like other things brought her down. The 'seized' report also needs some clarifying.

I have only been in, and seen operations where the pot is free. You can come in, show your card, and smoke all day. The Ganja is donated, and NO money changes hands. That is what I thought OR. was all about. I didn't even know they were charging for it these days.

Peace

Of course like most media reports the right questions are not asked and the scope of the report is insufficient to really understand what went on. I feel she would have not plead guilty if they did not have the goods on her. Oregon I am sure wants to keep a tight control so that they don't have the same situations as California that has led jurisdictions to tighten control of dispensaries, reduce garden and possession sizes. Right or wrong governments follow other governments not what the people want or need. Just hang low and don't push the limits and the people of Oregon will be fine. Just my two cents.

I just don't understand why she would plead. In my mind if I was going to do something like this in Oregon I would expect to be "busted" and challenge it in court and would have attorneys ready to go on the case.

I was wondering why she plead guilty as well.

wow that is some straight bullshit...first they charge her for something that the people of oregon voted was LEGAL to do....then they deny her ability to work in the medical marijuana industry because of her conviction even though shes a legit patient!!

thats like the government telling me i cant use my asthma medication or something else....FUCK THE GOVERNMENT. state law allows this yet they decide they dont want to follow the law...amazing how fucking backwards this country is..

I would imagine that she plead guilty because it was the Feds she was dealing with. I don't know if everyone understands this but dealing with the Feds can be a death sentence. The Feds have unlimited resources and will jack up your life. Do you have the money and the fortitude to put up with the soul draining issues of dealing with a federal court case?
I guessing here but this lady is only looking at probation and no jail time. I am sure that the Feds informed her that was the best deal she was going to get and that if it went to trail they would hang her ass out to dry. I have said this before and now I am saying it again. All these state laws are subject to Federal standards. This means that in the federals eyes, all these MJ medical laws are illegal. I am not saying that I agree with their reasoning but we did fight a war over it. The states lost that war. The Feds are the top dog.

She must have fucked up good I guess. I think I'd still plead not guilty though. Maybe she made a deal

US=EVIL.

Hippocrisy,biggetry.....
figures.

you got to stay low key. no matter where you are

it's crazy how the law says you can only be reimbursed for the cost of growing the plant..same in co.

how do they go about that? what is my time worth?

According to the state your time is worth nothing, you can only charge for documented expenses like power and nutes.

Only in the U.S.Fucking.A.

Sounds like the cliff notes for the first season of weeds. Even the lawyers name is Celia Howes.

Yeah, LEO isn't 'cracking down' in OR, and it's not the Feds that busted her either. It was State cops, and she pled guilty because she was guilty. If you accept money, other than expenses for costs, paid directly to the authorized grower, you are breaking the Oregon MMJ law. That is the big question...OK, it's legal but where are you supposed to get it? Not everyone wants to geek out growing shit you know...

Washington County DA is corrupt as hell, anyway. She probably plead guilty to that as part of plea bargain, in exchange for not being prosecuted for a huge number of other inflated charges, which if found guilty of a single one, would have had the book thrown at her and been given maximum sentencing.

DA's office here is a straight up extortion racket. They throw so much at you that you basically have to take the plea bargain to avoid huge sentences, and they get to have a spotless conviction record.

Maj.Cottonmouth said:

According to the state your time is worth nothing, you can only charge for documented expenses like power and nutes.

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Hate to bust the bubble, but ORS says nothing about "documented" expenses, it just says you can't use your time as a cost estimate. This has always gotten me, the "reimbursement" policy. It is basically a speculation market, like insurance rates or tax assessment, waiting for somebody to actually fight this part of the rules unless another M74 comes down the pipeline. My soil is suddenly really expensive or my water is ultra purified, lol. These could be real circumstances worked into the argument as it stands.

Walmart and Home Depot charging different prices for the same shit = speculation.

No it does not use the word documented but if you are charging you better have receipts to back it up.

(7) A registry identification cardholder or the designated primary caregiver of the cardholder may reimburse the person responsible for a marijuana grow site for the costs of supplies and utilities associated with the production of marijuana for the registry identification cardholder. No other costs associated with the production of marijuana for the registry identification cardholder, including the cost of labor, may be reimbursed.