PATIENTS MAKE CASE FOR POT

Medical Marijuana Users Want Visalia Dispensary Open

Visalia Compassionate Caregivers have suspended their long-standing
practice of quietly dispensing marijuana to patients as a result of
the city's nuisance-ticket ordinance.

"We were going to be charged $100 for the first offense, then $200,
then $500," said Jeff Nunes, who manages the Caregivers office and
its Visalia-based support organization, Medicinal Marijuana Awareness
and Defense. "And $500 again and again. We can't afford that."

So to "keep from going bankrupt," as Nunes put it, he shut down the
Caregivers side of his offices at 209 W. Main St. in Visalia -- but
kept open MMAD's educational office, which is next door.

"We will do the best we can to refer our patients to alternate places
where they can get their medication," Nunes said. Dispensaries exist
in the city of Tulare but patients say they are badly run and look
dangerous, like "doing drug deals."

"It's safe here [at Caregivers]," said patient Shane Maroon of Squaw
Valley, who has suffered chronic pain for years and cannot tolerate
regular medicines.

Maroon was part of a parade of patients who told the council they
suffered from painful conditions untreatable by standard medicines.

"The smoke is all I got, and I'm not going to let go of it," said
Anthony Blackwolf, who said he suffers constant pain without regular
doses of marijuana.

The actual closing in Visalia was Saturday, Nunes told the Visalia
City Council during the public comment segment Monday at City Hall.

"That's right," confirmed Tim Burns, head of Visalia's neighborhood
preservation department. "We have not closed any office. It's just
that medical marijuana can no longer be distributed from that location."

The fact that medical marijuana was being dispensed from the downtown
Visalia office was news to Councilman Don Landers.

"We were under the impression [Caregivers] was educational," Landers said.

Burns said that, in 2005, the city did agree to grant Nunes a "tenant
improvement permit" to operate his office for the "distribution of
educational materials and conventional office uses."

Earlier this year, the following sequence of events unfolded:

May 23: Visalia police reported that Nunes was dispensing marijuana
from the location.

June 25: The neighborhood preservation department issued a 30-day
"formal notice" of violation of the 2005 terms.

Aug. 27: Representatives from Burns' group, the Visalia Police
Department and Visalia's planning division met to see if Nunes'
location could be moved. An extension was granted until Oct. 1.

Sept. 10-14: Nunes tried and failed to find another location for Caregivers.

Sept. 20: Burns called Nunes and "left a voicemail" reminding him of
the Oct. 1 deadline for the stoppage of medical marijuana distribution.

Sept. 21: Nunes said he would comply.

Sept. 29: The location on West Main Street ceased medical marijuana
distribution, but remained open for advice, information, referrals
and education, Nunes said.

City attorney Alex Peltzer said there is nothing the council can do
at present, but that "administrative" means can be used to try and
reach an agreement with Nunes' group.

Councilman Greg Kirkpatrick said that he voted in favor of
Proposition 215 and asked that some measure of compassion be shown to
Nunes' efforts.

Mayor Jesus Gamboa said that "we haven't shut anyone down yet" but
that a settlement of the issue and any reopening of Caregivers "will
take time" to sort out.