Just your weekly stoner news update, y’all.
- Madeline Martinez at the Cannabis Cafe during happier times.
First of all: the much-hyped Cannabis Cafe in North Portland is closing after a mere six months of business. I last stopped by the cafe, which took over the space formerly occupied by restaurant/erotic speakeasy Rumpspankers, on opening night. Even back then, I reported, the cafe seemed like kind of a bust. A long line of medical marijuana cardholders snaked out the door, waiting to enter the private lounge set up by medical pot group Oregon NORML. But the $60 cover fee ($55 to join NORML and $5 a day to hang out at the cafe) led to rampant grumbling and desertion down the line.
The first-in-the-nation marijuana lounge caught the eye of national media, but as the Oregonian reports, its dissolution seems to be purely business between Oregon NORML director Madeline Martinez and building owner Erik Solomon:
Solomon came up with a plan to rename the cafe Rumpspankers Vapor Bar and open similar outlets elsewhere.
Solomon showed Martinez T-shirts printed with that name and logo, Martinez said — the name and logo that now adorn the door of the cafe space. “In my opinion, it breached our contract, and my lawyer agreed with me,” Martinez said. That, along with sanitation concerns, led Martinez to confront Solomon on May 5, she said.
Solomon said Martinez’s allegations about sanitation are baseless, and said the Cannabis Cafe was never more than a side operation to his restaurant. “Madeline Martinez was never more than a guest here. Rumpspankers has been here for three years,” he said. “I can name my business anything I want.”
He said his Vapor Bar opened as soon as the cafe closed and offers the same services but with no required NORML membership, only a $5 daily membership fee.
What a hilarious and characteristic twist to this story. I can only assume that Woodlawn neighbors are relieved the Cannabis Cafe is gone, though replacing it with “Rumpspankers Vapor Bar” isn’t really any better for a neighborhood that was hoping for a good restaurant or coffee shop.
Second of all: the economic dangers of legalizing pot! According to a report on NPR (where else?), the lax enforcement of marijuana laws in California has led to plunging pot prices, crippling the economies of northern California counties.
Sure, you can name it anything you want, but that doesn’t mean that name’s not dumb.
OK. Can ANYONE explain Eric Solomon’s obsession with the name “Rumpspankers _____ ?”?
Why must he keep trying to make this cringetacular brand happen?
@CC: I can only imagine that it’s the same sort of obsession that leads people to hideous tattoos.
Why would the Woodlawn neighbors be relieved? Would you rather have a club of quietly zoned out older and sick folks, or a titty bar with drunk frat boys spilling out of it?
Because quiet old sick folks were not the only ones hanging out there.
Grumbling is rampant always and everywhere!
Re: the falling pot prices. This is what has always confused me about the “legalize and tax it” argument. It’s just a crop. I can grow it in my backyard. You couldn’t save state finances with it any more than you could by taxing tomatoes.
It’s in NE, not N. Everything east of Williams is NE.
@ Blabby, I can (and do) make beer in my backyard, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a mass market for quality product that could serve as a tax base.
I don’t think anyone is arguing that the revenue could save California from it’s financial situation singlehandedly, but when you combine the money currently spent on enforcement, eradication, prosecution and corrections, I don’t think there’s any way to argue that it isn’t a decent potential moneymaker for states.
re: the “anybody an grow pot, how would taxing help” argument…
just because you can easily grow something doesn’t mean that everybody will. look at how many people buy carrots at the grocery store.
“a neighborhood that was hoping for a good restaurant or coffee shop. “
God, you’d think Woodlawn was some sort of remote outpost. There’s plenty of restaurants and coffee shops in this part of town. Plenty!
I’m guessing homeowners want to see the beginnings of the “next Alberta” or something so they can cash in on home values.
@ Paul Cone, thank you. While it may seem like a minor error, it happens fairly often. Simply put, is it lazy, apathetic reporting. These local stories and reports are of great interest to me, I would like to be able to trust what is being written.
Eric Solomon is NOT the owner of the 700 NE Dekum property. He has been its manager for the past couple of years, running his failing restaurant and a variety of other ventures from within it.
I know, cuz I’ve been hosting parties and erotic events in that building for years — until he threw all of the sex positive community event producers to the curb with little notice and went off on this most recent misadventure.
My experience has been that Eric has a tendency to come up with a half-baked idea with some potential, vaguely explain it to those he wants help from, launch it without adequate preparation, and then repeat the process.
BTW — Eric explained to me that “Rumpspankers” was something that came up during an interaction with his son, where he asked the boy if he wanted him to “get all Daddy Rumpspanker” on him. It’s a cute story and worked well for my events, when they were held there.
The Name Sucks!
What a shame, what a waste of a bus ticket thinking this place would be open. and why should neighbors be relieved? WE are pot heads People, not Drunks that can kill pedestrians Shitfaced while driving behind the wheel of a car. I ‘d say Legalize it! Tax! just like booze and cigarettes. its about time :o) I’ll Puff to that,cough,cough.
@NORML, Why the Greed? memberships should have been $15 to $25, not $55,you scared the customers away, you killed Cannabis Cafe, Duh’ take another puff!
Neighbors get use to the LOUD&NOISY music plus the ROWDINESS, you know, kids these days are brain dead, don’t be surprised if one of those drunken idiots come crashing through your house.
Y’ALL are going to wish those potheads never left,lol.
“Sadly, the Portland Cannabis Cafe is closed.”
All things considered, the Portland Cannabis Cafe was a lovely institution, but with flaws.
The types of errors that occur in a new business – the petty power struggles, the menu problems – along with the apparent “fear of selling Cannabis” by the cafe owners and their legal advisors, which now appears unjustified considering the success of “Sophia’s Registry” right across town here in ‘Potland, could have all been factors which led to the Cannabis Cafe closing it’s doors.
That’s right, it’s closed. But the real question is “Why did it close?”
The Cafe WAS a Registry of medical canabis patients, care givers and growers, that in the opinion of this writer should have been allowed to sell Cannabis “to it’s members.” But it’s almost as though the proprietors of the Cafe didn’t understand that it was in fact a Registry. There were also no medibles in the Cannabis Cafe for sale, which I understand was due to a concern that the amount of THC was possibly inexact in medibles from a liability standpoint.
Were we simply too afraid, to have a real Amsterdam style Cafe? Isn’t that what everyone really wanted?
I don’t blame the pioneers who opened the Portland Cannabis Cafe for their caution. The two men I saw who did most of the work on the cannabis side of the Cafe – “R.A.M. Junior ” and “Frog” – were dedicated, knowledgeable and friendly. Sadly some serious mistakes were made. I know that a long time patient and member of the Cannabis Scene in Portland was treated unfairly.
She is a disabled woman and medical cannabis patient who ran afoul of Madeline in an unrelated matter, and who was not allowed to enter the Cafe through the first floor “handicapped entrance”, even though she met all of the state and federal standards for being permanently handicapped, presented letters from her physician and her attorney and had an acutely broken foot. That was a rather shameful incident, which I am sorry to say I witnessed first hand.
The Portland Cannabis Cafe is now closed.
How could it close? Was the rent too high? Was the fact that no cannabis was available for sale off putting, to some? Were the financial managers inexperienced at running a restaurant? I do not know the answer.
I feel that it is a sad event that the Cafe closed. it was exactly the sort of space the patients , growers and caregivers of NOTML needed. Where were the lawyers, and the CPAs? How and why did NORMLs Portland Cannabis Cafe end up closed just six months after it opened it’s doors? I don’t know. All I know is that it was a great place to party with other medical cannabis patients, caregivers and growers. Perhaps the next time a Cannabis Cafe opens in Orygun, it will be an actual “Cannabis Cafe” that legally sells cannabis to card carrying patients at sufficient profit to keep it’s doors open. In fairess, I should add that the Cannabis Cafe did provide donated cannabis bud to smoke free of charge in small amounts for on premise consumption only, and that the Cafe was truly a “Vapor Bar”, with vaporized bud and sometimes hash oil available all day and evening to cafe patrons.
I miss the ‘Potland Cannabis Cafe. I’m betting that many other people do too. I’d like to thank “Linda from the Oregon NORML Board,” “R.A.M. II”, and “Frog” for all of the good work they did in keeping the Cafe open for as long as it was. I wish them all good luck in the future.
Just to clarify, NORML Board members were indeed selling medibles to patients at the cafe…..against all of the “Rules” that the current NORML Executive Director claimed to be following. Pounds of marijuana was donated and then suddenly, there wasn’t any to give to patients other than poor quality “shake”……Oregon NORML made a ghastly amount of money on the backs of sick and dying patients. They lined their pockets and then disappeared when the questions of what was really happening started to be asked.
The neighbors complained that there was loud music at night….the Solomons left the establishment when the food stopped being served…..those were the “After Hours” parties conducted by NORML staff at the Cafe, nothing to do with the Solomons, other than they ran their business in conjunction to the Cannabis Cafe.
When is National NORML going to start asking questions about where all of the donated medicinal marijuana went and where all of the vast amounts of money that I personally witnessed being donated went?????? There has to be somebody higher up than the Grand Priestess of Oregon NORML that will get these questions answered? I spent my money to get in and paid all of their overpriced dues….what do I get currently, worthless pieces of paper (NORML Membership cards and Cafe Membership) that mean nothing now and do NOT help me to get the medicinal marijuana that I desperately need.
Just to clarify, the person who wrote the above comment has a personal beef with the executive director of Oregon NORML and has been fired from working at the state’s largest clinic for illegally dealing medicine at black market prices to the same sick and disabled he claims Oregon NORML “lined their pockets” from.
No board member of Oregon NORML has ever sold medicine, plants, or medibles. That would be in violation of ORS 475.316(d). Unlike the “Sophia’s Registry” that the above author supports, which is violating the law by selling to patients.
There is somebody “higher up” at NORML – that would be the Outreach Coordinator (me), the executive director (Allen St. Pierre), and the NORML Founder (Keith Stroup) – and we have rejected all these silly claims because (a) nobody ever offers any proof, (b) Oregon NORML publishes its tax records and finances publicly, and (c) I have personally witnessed nearly every meeting and action of Oregon NORML and found it to be a model of ethics and advocacy in the NORML chapter network, as well as the largest chapter in the world (2,100+ paid members).
As for the costs and the worth of your memberships:
$35 per year is the cost of joining Oregon NORML for a year. That membership – even now – entitles you to attend 21 cardholder meetings per year, where one can receive a free donated clone and free donated gram of medicine. (That works out to $1.67 per meeting – what can one buy for $1.67 at Sophia’s Registry?) These benefits existed before the cafe and continue to exist today. (Also, those membership dues help to put on the May Cannabis March, the December Medical Cannabis Awards, and lobbying in Salem that brought us the highest statewide legal amounts of medicine possession in the country.)
$20 per month and a $5 cover charge was the cost of joining the cafe. For that charge, in addition to all the free cannabis you could care to smoke or vaporize while onsite, you also got free big screen cable TV, free Wii console gaming, free use of expensive vaporizers, and 50-cents-a-game billiards. Oh, and the peace of mind of knowing that the org had personal assurances of hand-off policy from Portland Police and Multnomah Sheriffs, because they knew nobody was violating ORS 475.316(d) by selling medicine.
This “Sophia’s Registry” is an illegal dispensary, pure and simple. It’s operation is not evidence that the cafe was too shy in not selling medicine; it’s operation just an indication that law enforcement hasn’t gotten around to investigating and arresting “Gawdess420” for dealing weed… yet.
Gawdess 420 here…..get one thing straight Mister Russ, I NEVER worked at the cafe and paid every single time that I entered the place. I have NEVER stolen medication, I ALWAYS brought my own and have multiple members that can back my claim that I gave it away for FREE when I had excess. Your idiotic stance of standing up for a seriously egregious action, selling donated medication, is amazing. Are you in the mix too and get a cut of the money that was being and still is being made? I heard a person bragging about the medication that one of the NORML staff members sold to him last week at the new club on 82nd Avenue …….
My only beef with the Executive Director is her deceit factor. I was totally supporting the cafe, brought in 10-20 people with each visit until I personally watched a Big Staff Member sell a large sports bag full of weed and then count the money the guy handed him, at the end of the bar, near the base of the stairs.
Another NORML staff member offered to sell me medables and openly stated when the offer was made that it was from some really high end medicinal marijuana and would be really potent. She offered the cakes at $100 to $150, depending on her mood for the day. I don’t have any grudge against anybody unless they are selling medication intended for sick and dying patients, which the current Executive Director seems to support. Russ, people were there and heard the offer.
Oh yeah Mister Belville…..I have had the police here in my home, showed them my garden and EVERYTHING is by the word of the law. I can provide you with dozens of names of patients that I GAVE medicinal marijuana to after checking the validity of theirOMMP card that they presented to me. Stop slinging mud when you are the one associating with filthy hands, you dolt.
NORML Board members are too paid…..you wrote that to me in a scathing letter after I pulled the curtain down surrounding the Wizadess of Oz…(It was a green city after all). You asked me why board members should not be paid….and then you say that they are not paid, make up your mind dear man and get the facts straight? Thousands of dollars were made at the old Cafe, where is that money? Did anybody keep track of the pounds worth of medicinal marijuana that was donated? The bell rang indicating that somebody had brought in medicine to be given out many, many, many times….that amounts to pounds being donated as the average donation was 4+ ounces at a time.
You lie with dogs and you get fleas….need a flea collar Russ?
Gawdess 420 wrote:
“Mr. Belville, everything of mine is according to law. I can provide dozens of names of patients that I’ve assisted with medicinal cannabis. Stop slinging mud when you yourself are the one associating with filthy hands, you dolt.”
Gawdess your heart’s in the right place, but you needn’t provide any patient’s names as many of us know you and some of us love you! I’ve met this young “Organization man” Russ Bellville of NORML. My take is that he’s pretty much the “Ensign Pulver” of the Cannabis movement in Oregon.
I’m shocked at the anti-cannabis posture he seems to take in his recent posts in this forum.Is he speaking for his organization? Let’s look at some excerpts from Mr. Bellville of Oregon NORML’s posts right here in the Portland Mercury:
“Radical Russ” who describes himself as “A Higher Up at Oregon NORML” posted the following:
“Just to clarify, the person who wrote the above comment has a personal beef with the executive director of Oregon NORML and has been fired from working at the state’s largest clinic for illegally dealing medicine at black market prices to the same sick and disabled he claims Oregon NORML “lined their pockets” from.”
Sadly, “Radical Russ” comes off in his latest post as something of a political neophyte and a rube. I have some questions for him, and based on his post these should be fair questions:
Hey Russ, do you and your organization Oregon NORML “oppose” the Sophia’s Registry cannabis collective? Are you trying to say that you think the police or the Feds should close the Sophia’s Registry cannabis collective in Portland? Just what are you trying to say here, Russ? What did you mean when you wrote: “..law enforcement hasn’t gotten around to investigating and arresting “Gawdess 420″ for dealing weed – yet?” What are you talking about, Homeboy? Do you oppose the cannabis growers, dispensaries and collectives in neighboring California too, or just here in Oregon? Do you oppose us on the ballot question regarding dispensaries in Oregon this fall as well?
What has happened to Oregon NORML? Are you on our side of the cannabis debate or not, Mr. Bellville?
Gawdess 420 is a member of NORML. Yeah, Russ. A longtime member. Am I to understand that Russ Bellville, an Officer of Oregon NORML and a self described “Higher Up at Oregon NORML” has now advocated in the media for the arrest of a NORML member for cannabis? (Incidentally, judging from his posts Mr. Bellville of Oregon NORML is incorrect regarding even the gender of “Gawdess 420.” Noone who’s met Gawdess 420 could possibly mistake her for being male, but for some reason Mr. Bellville several times described Gawdess 420 as “He” in his posts in this forum.) Does Russ Bellville support the legalization of cannabis, or does he oppose it? Russ if you are an officer of NORML, then I would hope that you wouldn’t want anyone “investigated” or “arrested” for cannabis! Do you feel some sort of a competition with Sophia’s Registry in Portland because NORML operates a Cannabis Cafe for it’s members, Russ? You’re looking and acting somewhat reactionary for a “radical”, aren’t you, Russ? Would you prefer it that only one organization control all of the cannabis advocacy and medication sharing in Oregon? Gee, which organization might that be? Clearly young Mr. Bellville has got some explaining to do.
Then Russ Bellville posted this:
“No board member of Oregon NORML has ever sold medicine, plants, or medibles. That would be in violation of ORS 475.316(d). Unlike the “Sophia’s Registry” that the above author supports, which is violating the law by selling to patients.”
Good ol’ “Radical Russ, even citing the Oregon Revised Statutes for us, ostensibly as evidence of his point of view. That’s the simplest sort of fallacious reasoning on it’s face, but he’s young. ” ( Just so you know, you’re wrong in your basic premise concerning the ethical purity of NORML’s Board members, Mr. Bellville.)
I also understand that Mr. Bellville “Failed to provide assistance and advocacy” when a disabled patient was being denied access to the Dekum Cannabis Cafe handicapped entrance by Oregon NORML leadership, even though her attorney was John Lucy, a NORML Legal Committee Member.
I don’t consider that simple cluelessness, Mr. Bellville. Noo, no no. I don’t write that off to inexperience.
No, that was cowardice. Cowardice and poor judgement, because you knew what was being done to that patient was wrong and abusive, but you didn’t take a stand against it. It is this very cowardice, poor judgement and impotence that amount to the primary reasons why I don’t want you telling anyone that you’re a leader in the Cannabis movement in Oregon, Russ. It is my considered assesment that you’re not ready to lead anything yet. Don’t take that hard. Even Doug MacArthur started out as a plebe at The Point.
In the opinion of this writer, it’s soon time for new advocates to ascend to the leadership of the Cannabis movement in Oregon. Where are the Naturopaths in our movement, by the way? How are they using cannabis to help their patients if at all? Perhaps these Naturopathic physicians and practitioners should be asked to consider taking a more active role within the medical cannabis movement and the drive to advocate for medicinal cannabis. It’s my belief that only goodness and healing would come of that union. Cheers.
Eubiedoo wrote:
“Oregon NORML, Why the Greed? Memberships should have been $15 to $25, not $55,you scared the customers away, you killed Cannabis Cafe, Duh’ take another puff!”
He’s right. Does anyone go to a movie theatre that has a 35 dollar fee to join and a ten dollar monthly fee on top of that, all in addition to the price of admission? Would anyone go to a bar like that?
A simple and effective way to structure the price of admission to a Cannabis Cafe is to charge a reasonable admission such as five bucks, and to let the collective members pay by the gram for any additional cannabis they want and be done with it. I can quite easily predict that all of these places will someday soon go to a five buck per head simple cover charge and give a gram of cannabis to every patient as soon as they walk through the door, with more available to collective members by the gram “On Demand.” Problem solved. Where should the club owner get her medicine? “Grow it” Baby! All you have to do is to establish a grow for the club. Between that and donations you’ll have more than enough medicine.
“Hide and watch.” That’s exactly what’s going to happen, because that’s what the market and the patients will demand. Would any card holders like to see a well run Hash Bar in action? I recommend the “Endless Summer Party” at Highway 420 at noon on Wednesdays and Fridays. “Works for me!” Cheers.
One day as I was at the Cafe, which happened to be a Saturday when NORML canceled the meeting but did nothing to notify the members and observed the activity in the Cafe. My foot was broken and I was not allowed admittance through the front door even after the Wizardess demanded a doctors letter that she later refused to examine, so once I got up and back down the stairs I was stuck for a few hours, pain does that to you. Since there wasn’t any meeting most people that had came for the meeting ended up in the cafe. I counted the contribution bell ringing 30 times before I quit counting. Let’s see……4+ ounces at a time, many times people donated vastly larger amounts….times 30. NORML was raking in the money in your description of their justified $35 annual dues…..but what about all of the money that went out the back door when they SOLD the DONATIONS, where is that money? Lining pockets, a plain and simple answer.
I have heard that the new Cafe on 82nd did not have ANY medication to give out this past week. Imagine traveling a great distance to get medicine that you need only to pay to get in and then be told that there isn’t anything to smoke. Anybody can see that the new Cafe is doomed because of their management style and decisions.
The dispensaries that ole Russ dislikes are springing up all over the Portland Metro area, ask around and somebody will tell you where to go to get medicine. Russ’s stance against Sophia’s Co-Op is nauseating, it simply looks like jealousy from here, it is a Co-Op and it works, quite effectively from my interactions. There are other dispensaries, at least 6 that I know about.
I personally witnessed many acts that should have taken down the cafe, specifically a NORML Board Member selling medible cakes made from donated medicinal grade marijuana and medicinal marijuana donations being sold out the back door….instead, NORML explains the demise as being due to theft from bud tenders (the bud tenders staff are furious at your naivete Russ). These people worked countless hours willfully and you slander them, blaming them for your own organizations internal shortcomings. I have the people for witnesses to back up my claims, you just keep ignoring us and see where that gets your organization. Shame, shame on you…..PetSmart has Flea collars on sale.