MARIJUANA DISPENSARY TURNED DOWN

Panel Rejects Proposed Del Aire Facility, Citing a Nearby Child-Care Facility.

County regional planning commissioners Wednesday turned down a permit
application that would have allowed a medical marijuana dispensary
near Los Angeles International Airport.

The decision came after Del Aire residents complained that the store
would contribute to the area's seedy atmosphere and be too close to a
child-care facility.

A closed bar, check-cashing business, strip club and motel stand near
the vacant building at 11816 Aviation Blvd. in the unincorporated
neighborhood of Del Aire.

Del Aire Neighborhood Association President John Koppelman said the
LAX Suites motel and Ye Olde Shack bar - which has been closed for
three years partially due to his efforts - bring prostitution, drugs
and violence to the neighborhood. He believes the marijuana
dispensary would only exacerbate that.

"It costs $150 to get a doctor's recommendation for marijuana,"
Koppelman said. "That's all it takes. You don't have to be sick. If
you live in the motel and sell dope, you could go next door and get
the dope. If you have a dope house, you're going to get dope activity."

Lawrence Epstein, chief executive officer of the collective that
wants to operate the dispensary, applied for a conditional-use permit
to open it.

Epstein helped establish the Marina Caregivers dispensary in Marina
del Rey in 2005, and said it has grown to more than 100 customers a day.

"We do have more competition now," Epstein told the commission
Wednesday. "When we opened in 2005, this was something very new.
"Patients coming from the South Bay area would come to this
(proposed) facility."

The South Bay is currently served by at least eight door-to-door
marijuana delivery services and a few dispensaries that opened before
Torrance, Carson, Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills Estates,
Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne and Gardena
instituted moratoriums on them.

California approved the use of medical marijuana more than 10 years
ago, but it is still illegal under federal law. Still, more than 200
medical marijuana dispensaries have opened in Los Angeles County since then.

Though the county allows dispensaries that adhere to certain
regulations, members of the Regional Planning Commission questioned
whether they should go against federal law, which maintains that
marijuana is an illegal narcotic.

"The U.S. Constitution is a guideline that reigns supreme," Regional
Planning Commissioner Pat Modugno said Wednesday, when considering
the application.

But the sticking point for commissioners was a home child-care center
a few blocks away. County code regulating dispensaries says day-care
centers must be at least 1,000 square feet away.

"I've had a lot of thought on this issue, on both sides,"
Commissioner Leslie Bellamy said before voting down the permit. "I
didn't know child-care facilities were in the area. This is a small
community, and the community stated there are crime issues across the
street - prostitution and drugs."

Epstein, who is leasing the building, said he plans to appeal the
commission's decision.

"This has been a very eye-opening process for me," Epstein said.
"It's the first time I've been through a conditional-use permit
process, angry residents, newspaper reporters. I don't know anything
about this.

"I am disappointed in the decision. I've put a lot of time and energy
into this. I thought it was going to go the other way."