CITY MOVES AGAINST NEW POT DISPENSARY

Cathedral City officials are moving quickly to stop the sale of
medical marijuana at a dispensary that recently opened a block away
from City Hall.

Essential Herbs and Oils, located at 68-487 E. Palm Canyon Drive,
received a cease-and-desist letter from the city Wednesday afternoon,
ordering the business to stop selling medical marijuana, said Deputy
City Manager Julie Baumer.

"It is not allowed under federal law, and they are not licensed to do
that," Baumer said.

But staff at Essential Herbs countered the business is organized as
an association - which some advocates have argued is legal under
state law - not a dispensary, and will remain open.

""This is safe access for medical cannabis. I don't know what a
dispensary is," said a woman at the store who identified herself only
as "Becky."

Should the store remain open, Baumer said, "they will be issued
another citation and then they will go through the administrative
process to revoke their license."

Federal law bans any possession, cultivation or sale of marijuana.
California law allows patients with a doctor's letter of
recommendation to grow and use limited amounts of medical marijuana,
but does not explicitly allow or ban dispensaries.

The law does prohibit selling medical marijuana for profit.

Essential Herbs has been open for about a month. The store was issued
a city business license on Nov. 5, describing it as a spice and
extract manufacturer and spice and herb retailer.

The license lists Virginia Hurn and Teresa Sotelo as the owners.

The legality of dispensaries has been a flash point for cities across
the Coachella Valley in the past few years, with most passing
moratoriums or bans against them.

Cathedral City and Rancho Mirage are the only two valley cities with
neither a ban nor a moratorium in effect.

Indian Wells, La Quinta and Palm Desert have bans. Coachella, Desert
Hot Springs, Indio and Palm Springs have moratoriums.

Despite the Palm Springs moratorium, two dispensaries are operating
illegally in the city - Compassionate Caregivers and the Collective
Apothecary, both on North Palm Canyon Drive.

City officials are drafting an ordinance that would allow small
cooperative, but not dispensaries.