CITY HOPES TO CLOSE LEGAL POT DISPENSARY

SAN MARCOS - An existing medical-marijuana dispensary here survived a
City Council vote in February that banned any more dispensaries from opening.

It was able to receive a business license because it called itself a
nutritional supplement store, city officials said. But the
dispensary's ability to remain open is now uncertain.

On Thursday, local and federal law enforcement officers went to the
storefront on Rancho Santa Fe Road and seized all of the marijuana
and products laced with the drug's byproducts as part of raids of
dispensaries countywide.

Now the city is intent on shutting down the business, run by Legal
Ease Inc. of San Diego, because it's been burglarized several times
since the council's vote, said City Manager Rick Gittings. The city
contends it's a threat to the community's health, safety and welfare,
violating the provisions the city imposed in February when it allowed
the dispensary to stay open, Gittings said.

The concept of providing medical marijuana to patients who really
need it has good intentions, but as indicated by state and federal
prosecutors this week, medical marijuana dispensaries are fronts for
drug peddling, Gittings said.

Recently, Legal Ease asked the city to transfer its business license
to a new location on Grand Avenue. The city rejected the request in a
letter sent to Legal Ease last month. The letter said that another
business near the dispensary's current location was burglarized
because it was mistaken for the dispensary. The letter also said
Legal Ease had failed at least once to submit security tapes of its
premises and has failed to reveal what was stolen in the burglaries.

Though the letter didn't say the city wanted to close the business,
that conclusion is "painfully obvious," Gittings said.

City officials will meet with Legal Ease's representatives next week
to discuss the situation, he said. Gittings said he doesn't know when
the dispensary would be closed.

When reached earlier this week, Henry Friesen, Legal Ease's attorney,
said that he hoped to clear up any miscommunication with the city. He
said he thought the new location would be approved, based on
discussions with representatives from the Sheriff Department's San
Marcos substation and the Fire Department.

Sgt. Gary Floyd, supervisor of San Marcos' street narcotics and gang
unit, said he's not aware that Legal Ease had talked with the
Sheriff's Department about relocating. He said that after some recent
early-morning burglaries, the dispensary installed roll-up metal
security covers over the door and window because thieves had smashed
the glass to get inside.

In Thursday's raid, dozens of candy bars and cartons of ice cream
containing THC, a marijuana byproduct, were confiscated, Floyd said.
Bags of packaged marijuana and larger bags of the drug used to refill
the smaller ones were also taken, he said. No one was arrested.

In December, a federal drug agent said he was able to purchase
marijuana at the site with a forged doctor's recommendation.