With new ownership and a cutting edge vision, the former Jake’s Deli may soon bring an entirely new meaning to campus greenery.

Steve and Mary Allen, previous owners of Jake’s Deli, served their customers and the community for many years.

As of Nov. 4, however, the building was sold to a group that plans to sell recreational marijuana.
McMinnville’s City Council held a meeting to revisit the question of whether the city should ban recreational marijuana dispensaries.

When the question was brought up earlier, it met little to no opposition. The same held true for the Oct. 27 council meeting.

The News-Register said, “Linfield College President Tom Hellie urged the council to ban sales within 1,000 feet of the college” as “rumors of a marijuana dispensary moving into the former Jake’s Deli site at the edge of campus concerned him.”

But when the council voted, only one member opposed allowing recreational marijuana sales in McMinnville.

The rest voted to allow recreational sales in the city.

Councilor Alan Ruden said recreational sales should “flourish unrestricted,” according to the News-Register’s report on the meeting.

However, Mardi Mileham, Linfield’s Director of Communications, said Hellie did not ask for a ban on recreational sales. “What Dr. Hellie was suggesting was to afford Linfield the same kind of buffer [as public K-12 according to Oregon Liquor Control Commission law] because of the minors that come on campus,” Mileham said.

She explained that the minors coming to the Linfield campus include McMinnville High School students and others taking classes, or taking tours with the Admissions Office. Even elementary age and younger children come to musical performances.

The new owner of Jake’s, Wayne Stocks, is working with co-managers Payton Curry, Jennifer Zarezadeh, and Becca Hawes to open Green Heart Oregon.

Green Heart Oregon plans to offer a dispensary and other facilities in the building, some of which will not be focused on the psychoactive effect of the plant.

The new owners bring different sets of expertise to the table in the form of a chocolatier, tincture specialist, cooks, and juicers. Some of these skills may be unusual in relation to a marijuana dispensary. The specialties are what excite Curry about opening in Jake’s former location.

Curry described the front and center aspect of the business that will be a “Cannabis Juice Bar.”
With locally grown berries and fruits from Farmer John’s in McMinnville, Curry plans to blend fresh cannabis to form “a product that will not get you high because it is just raw nutrients. Juicing cannabis raw with lemon or coconut juice [as an example] offers probiotics and nutrients good for the stomach Ph levels,” he said.

Zarezadeh, a co-owner who will also be selling her homemade candles, described the juicing benefits of Cannabis as “homeostasis” and talked about the non-psychoactive effects of the Cannabidiol, or CBD, that have been shown to reduce epileptic seizures in children, treat schizophrenia, and help Crohn’s disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

The dispensary will be harvesting its crop from a farm belonging to owner Wayne Stocks who operates only 7 miles from Jake’s location.

“We’re not opening this place up right away just to sell pot,” Curry said, “We still want to accommodate the community.

“We could open a big giant smoke shop, bong place and all that jazz but it’s not what McMinnville deserves and it’s not what we came here to do,” he said.

“We want to truly educate the community on nutritional cannabis. We’re going to have evening seminars where we sit down and talk about what we’re doing at our farm,” Curry said.

“Before we even make a dollar,” he said, “we’ll be open for a month teaching, because we’re not coming and blowing out the walls and making this a garbage box store.

“We’re not allowing weirdness, because the community doesn’t allow weirdness.”

As Curry explained, the front entrance will open on to the juice bar and a consultant who will answer questions.

A large cooler just behind the front counter will hold chocolate for sale and contain medicated and unmedicated goods.

In the northernmost part of the building, Curry and Zarezadeh described their vision of having a health official or expert in marijuana-therapy, offering consultations, suggesting dosages and treating patients with topical Cannabis.

In Curry’s vision, back toward the front door, past a soda machine and register, there will be a larger area that includes the medical and recreational dispensaries.

The sales part of the store will be separated from the front area by a door and curtains. The back parking lot will also have an entrance, monitored by security personnel, to the marijuana dispensary counters.

The OLCC, which regulates marijuana in the state, allows license applications to begin Jan. 4.
According to a phone conversation with Curry, Green Heart Oregon plans to open for a “community night” on Dec. 1.

This open house will have refreshments with owners and co-managers present to answer questions and share their vision.

No sales will take place and no recreational marijuana will be on site.