IN SLO COUNTY, DEBATE IS OVER DISPENSARIES

The history of medical marijuana in San Luis Obispo County has been
characterized by support and opposition to dispensaries.

In 2006, San Luis Obispo County became the 21st in California to
issue cards to qualified medical marijuana patients and their primary
caregivers.

In 2007, the Board of Supervisors adopted an ordinance allowing
medical marijuana dispensaries. The ordinance stipulates that
dispensaries cannot be in a downtown business area or within 1,000
feet of any school, library, playground, park or youth recreation area.

A dispensary in Morro Bay that opened in 2006 was closed a little
more than a year later, after sheriff's and federal Drug Enforcement
Agency officials raided Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers and
said they found federal and state violations. The operator, Charles
Lynch, was later given a reduced sentence in a highly watched federal
court case.

In 2008, county supervisors barred a dispensary planned for
Templeton, saying it was too close to a playground and did not fit
with the character of the community. County planning commissioners
had voted to approve it.

In March, Morro Bay officials voted to move ahead with drafting
regulations that would allow medical marijuana to be sold in the city.

Later that month, the Atascadero City Council approved a permanent
ban on medical marijuana dispensaries, though they supported an
exemption to allow caregivers to deliver to qualified medical
marijuana patients inside city limits.

Most recently, county planning commissioners voted 3-2 in May to
block a proposal to add a medical marijuana dispensary to a warehouse
building in Nipomo.