Bidding Farewell to Two Groundbreaking Dispensaries

August 1^st will from now on be an ominous day for medical marijuana in San Francisco. It will be the first day our city will be without two of our pioneering dispensaries, The Vapor Room and HopeNet, which have paved the way for collectives such as ours, The Apothecarium.

When The Apothecarium opened its doors, it was to add to the wonderful and diverse selection of medical cannabis dispensaries in San Francisco. Just as patients get to choose from the vast options of traditional pharmacies, clinics, physicians and hospitals, the collectives, activists, and city officials involved with our community in San Francisco founded and supported their own networks of clubs to create the same sort of options and choices for medical cannabis patients. Forerunners include The Vapor Room and HopeNet, and they will be greatly missed.

Both dispensaries have also been continuously involved with its local neighborhood and the city. Contributions to important organizations, community groups, and charities were part of their business model. The Apothecarium followed in these footsteps, and we are grateful for these two organizations for paving the way.

These two dispensaries were also havens for many patients who could not medicate in their own home. They provided a place to safely medicate and to also socialize with other patients.  The city and its patients are now deprived from access to such locations with their closure, and we hope that new solutions will arise in the midst of this crackdown. Although at The Apothecarium we do not allow medicating onsite, we all understand the importance of such locations and we also express grief at this loss.

We all are saddened by the outcomes of the current crackdown in our community. We understand the frustration that comes about from these types of experiences, but we remind everyone to stay focused and positive. The Apothecarium hopes to see many of you involved with the community to demonstrate its strength and unity. Proposition 215 began in San Francisco because the community organized itself and stayed focus on a common goal. We are again faced with a similar situation; we must support our community and keep going forward. Your involvement can be as great as speaking with officials in Sacramento, becoming an active member of Americans for Safe Access, or as little as continuing to patronize your local dispensary.

We must all stick together and fight the just fight.

Maitri thanks The Apothecarium for past donation

The Apothecarium received a thank you letter for our past donation to Maitri for an outdoor awning to allow their patients to medicate outside regardless of rain or shine.

These kinds of donations are only possible with the support and contributions from our members. Every time you come into The Apothecarium for your medicine, proceeds go towards a fund for charitable gifts that will be given to local organizations that are benefiting and aiding the community. Without your continuing contributions, we would be unable to provide these gifts.

For this reason, we would like to share the thank you card and photos sent to us thanking our collective for our donation.

Some wonderful patients enjoying the awning.

We hope to continue such philanthropic endeavors, and again we thank all our members for making them possible.

Super Sarah Silverman gets some attention on SFBG

All of us at The Apothecarium are very excited for all the fun events happening next week! Amongst our festivities for our 1st Year Anniversary, we are also celebrating SF Pride!

One way we are celebrating pride is honoring one of its lovingly eccentric Grand Marshals, comedian extraordinaire Sarah Silverman!

We are currently carrying a fun, energetic Sativa dominant strain that we have donned Super Sarah Silverman Haze. A cross of Deadhead OG and Chemdawg 4, as the wonderful spot on SFBG.org's Editorials pointed out, it will help you "cheerfully ignore any and all taboos and help you feel amazing and in high spirits."

A definite must-try for the Sativa lovers!

We wish everyone a wonderful and safe Pride, and we hope to see you at The Apothecarium next week!

040139813263714

Anniversary and SF Pride Celebrations at The Apothecarium

June is a big month for us. Being in the Castro, we are delighted and excited to be celebrating SF Pride 2012! One of the biggest of the neighborhood festivities, The Apothecarium is joining in on the revelry.

One way we are celebrating is by bringing in some exciting and fun additions to our evergrowing menu!

This June, we are introducting Super Sarah Silverman Haze:

For SF Pride 2012, Emmy Award-winning comedian Sarah Silverman will be coming to San Francisco as a Celebrity Grand Marshall. Many of you know her from her show, which she starred in and penned, The Sarah Silverman Show.

As a strain, Super Sarah Silverman Haze promises an uplifting, potent effect that keeps your spirits and humor up and strong while dealing with the realities of the everyday. You'll feel amazing!

We will also be providing goodies and edible treats for our members, so make sure to stop by during Pride weekend. Make sure to pick up your free Pride pre-roll, one goes to every member that attends the SF Pride Fair and gets a sticker for their donations at entry - Saturday and Sunday only.

In addition, on June 21st, we celebrate our First Anniversary! It has been almost a year since we have opened our doors, and now we want to celebrate with all of you. We will be having deals and medicated birthday cupcakes and cakepops for our members who come visit us. Make sure to stop by!

Here are a few things to look forward to:
- Every donating member will receive a 2x Dose Edible
- 1 Prize Wheel Spin to every member donating $40 and up (chance to win edibles, per-rolls, coupons, and even a free 1/8th)
- Free Birthday Cupcake or Cake Pop for every member donating $50 and up
- Every member will be entered in a chance to win our Medicated Birthday Cake!

We can't wait to see all of you!

How to help medical cannabis in SF after lunch

Today is a rather typical Thursday San Franciscan afternoon. Not to cold, not to warm. Sunny in some parts, but not in others. Great restaurants, bakeries and food trucks all around for us to fill up our bellies. But, as ominous as this may sound, there is a dark shadow over our city. And, as a medical cannabis patient and/or supporter, this shadow is ready to envelop you, envelop us all. It can change that wonderful post-lunch taste to a gross one. And worse, it threatens our access to our well-being, medicine and community.

As you may know, medical cannabis collectives are being threated in San Francisco. The federal government has made it clear that they do not support us, and that they plan to shut us down. They are standing over us, casting that horrible shadow and keeping us all in anxiety.

So, what can you do? There are many things that all of us can do, that may seem minor, but together, make a huge impact.

Take a minute, while you are digesting that yummy lunch, to call your representative Nancy Pelosi at her Washington D.C. office,  here is her number: (202) 225-4965

If not today, then save the number for tomorrow. Here is her SF number, too: (415) 556-4862

And here is her email: http://pelosi.house.gov/contact/email-me.shtml

Below are talking points, courtesy of Americans for Safe Access.

I am a San Francisco constituent, and I demand that Pelosi take an immediate stand against federal interference with medical cannabis laws in California.

An attack on our facilities is a direct attack on patients and their safe access to medicine

The U.S. Attorney's/DOJ crackdown includes targeting peaceful, regulated facilities in San Francisco, these facilities operate with a permit, are in compliance with all State and local laws, and in good standing with their communities. 

The DOJ carried out a hostile military type raid in Oakland, CA,

Stop the Federal attack on medical cannabis today and take no further actions. Hold President Obama to his promise of respecting State Law.

We are organized and will fight this.

It is up to all of you, all of us, to make sure that we maintain our medical cannabis dispensaries and community in San Francisco. We have come so far, why let them stop us now?

The Apothecarium is proud to announce The Wellness Support Group

The Apothecarium is now offering a social service program available to all of its collective members. The first of many groups to come, we are now launching The Wellness Support Group. This is a harm reduction, peer-based support group that will meet and exchange ideas as well as provide a space to receive emotional and peer guidance. This group will be run by long time medical cannabis advocate and certified harm reduction counselor, Michael (Mykey) Barbitta.

Michael Barbitta is a student of the Harm Reduction Training Institute in Oakland, CA and is certified in many aspects of the harm reduction principles on substance abuse therapy.

So, what is harm reduction? According to the Harm Reduction Coalition (HRC), harm reduction is “a set of practical strategies and ideas aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with drug use.” It is also “a movement for social justice built on a belief in, and respect for, the rights of people who use drugs.”

The following are the principals associated to harm reduction, as presented by the HRC:

• Accepts, for better and or worse, that licit (legal) and illicit (illegal) drug use is part of our world and chooses to work to minimize its harmful effects rather than simply ignore or condemn them.
• Understands drug use as a complex, multi-faceted phenomenon that encompasses a continuum of behaviors from severe abuse to total abstinence, and acknowledges that some ways of using drugs are clearly safer than others.
• Establishes quality of individual and community life and well-being–not necessarily cessation of all drug use–as the criteria for successful interventions and policies.
• Calls for the non-judgmental, non-coercive provision of services and resources to people who use drugs and the communities in which they live in order to assist them in reducing attendant harm.
• Ensures that drug users and those with a history of drug use routinely have a real voice in the creation of programs and policies designed to serve them.
• Affirms drugs users themselves as the primary agents of reducing the harms of their drug use, and seeks to empower users to share information and support each other in strategies which meet their actual conditions of use.
• Recognizes that the realities of poverty, class, racism, social isolation, past trauma, sex-based discrimination and other social inequalities affect both people’s vulnerability to and capacity for effectively dealing with drug-related harm.
• Does not attempt to minimize or ignore the real and tragic harm and danger associated with licit (legal) and illicit (illegal) drug use.

View Larger Map

With these principals in mind, The Apothecarium is creating a space for our members to discuss their medical cannabis use, and other drug use if applicable, in a safe, non-judgmental, productive space.  The Wellness Support Group is flexible to the needs of the participating members of the group, so everyone is encouraged to attend and to share any ideas that they might have that will benefit the rest.

The Wellness Support Group will be a weekly group that will consist of Michael Barbitta as the facilitator with various participating members. Everyone is asked to sit in a circle, and after welcomes, introductions and news updates on current affairs around medical cannabis, everyone will take turns "checking in" with any positive events or negative situations one might have and is willing to share. The overall purpose of the group is to empower people and exchange ideas and thoughts on living well through the common denominator of medical cannabis. The therapeutic value of a weekly meeting is a great practice to pursue one’s wellness as well as to connect with others.

If this sounds like something that interests you, you are invited to meet with the group at the Duboce Park Recreation Center on Fridays at 2:15pm. If there is rain, the group will meet at the Harvey Milk Arts Center that overlooks Duboce Park. We hope to see you there.