MEDICAL POT MORATORIUM OK'D

For Now, No New Shops Can Open In Palm Springs

The Palm Springs City Council voted Wednesday to keep any new
dispensaries from opening for 45 days so that the city can draw up
regulations for such operations.

"This is not a drug, it's a natural herb," said LaVonne Victor, who
has used medical marijuana for five years to treat problems
associated with multiple sclerosis. "I am not a criminal. I am not a
cartel. I am just a sick person trying to make it one day at a time."

The City Council voted 4-0 Wednesday with Councilman Chris Mills
absent to implement a temporary moratorium, citing concern that
nothing is written in its codes about medical marijuana facilities.
Although state law allows dispensaries to sell marijuana to patients
who have letters from their doctors, federal law says it is illegal
to grow and sell marijuana.

About 20 people spoke in favor of regulated medical marijuana
facilities, including Victor, who lives in Temecula. Before she
discovered medical marijuana, she said she was homebound for 12 years.

And Venia LaBeaux of Lake Elsinore, who was diagnosed with HIV in
1988, said before places like CannaHelp in Palm Desert, she had to
grow her own medication and was subjected to a search of her home by
law enforcement.

"I take so many medications ... with so much nausea, (medical
marijuana) is the only thing that helps," she said after the meeting.

The moratorium comes just after Palm Springs Caregivers was ordered closed
by the city. It also comes on the heels of problems faced by Palm
Desert-based CannaHelp: a raid of CannaHelp patient's home in Desert Hot
Springs and a moratorium on dispensaries in Indian Wells.

The not-for-profit Palm Springs Caregivers, located at 2001 N. Palm
Canyon Drive next to Toucan's Tiki Lounge, was red-tagged with a
stop-work order Friday after the city learned it was operating
without a tenant improvement permit. Owners are working to receive
the correct permits and will be allowed to operate during the moratorium.

Phillip Morris, who is representing Palm Springs Caregivers, said the
dispensary had been seeing patients since March 6 at the collective
and a Palm Springs hotel. More than 220 patients are already signed
up, he said. About 90 are from San Bernardino County and 130 are from
Riverside County, he said. Of the 130 patients, 34 are from Palm
Springs, Morris said.

Palm Springs Caregivers has agreed to keep its Palm Canyon Drive
office closed until the city figures out what to do, said Morris.
However, the business may have to operate out of a hotel again so
that patients can receive their medication, he said, at least until
Palm Springs Caregivers receives the correct permits and is allowed
open.

There is already one medical marijuana dispensary in Palm Springs,
located at 333 N. Palm Canyon Drive, behind PS Scoops.

That dispensary, Collective Apothecary of Palm Springs, has been
operating there without a business license for about five months.
Before that, CAPS worked out of an office behind Ralph's in Smoke
Tree Village on East Palm Canyon Drive for a short while before
neighboring tenants began to complain of odors, said CAPS patient
Rick Pantele on Wednesday before the meeting.

Although the city points to alleged criminal activity around CAPS and
fear of similar activity around Palm Springs Caregivers, Palm Springs
police Sgt. Mitch Spike said only two reports were documented at
CAPS. Last month a window was broken at the business, and last week
business neighbors complained of odors, said Spike.

One of those neighbors was Imagine It! president Jeff Shotwell, who
said during the meeting Wednesday that one of his employees has had
to leave work several times because of the smell coming from CAPS.

"No one really knows what goes on at this location," said Shotwell,
adding he would support regulations for the dispensary. "My employees
don't feel it's a safe working environment."

Pantele, who uses medical marijuana to treat nausea and lack of
appetite associated with the nearly 70 pills and mineral supplements
he takes daily as an HIV-positive cancer patient, said CAPS is
extremely cautious about its clientele.

CAPS refuses to distribute more than one ounce at a time and patients
cannot come more than twice per day, he said.

He has used medical marijuana for 14 years, ever since he was
diagnosed with HIV. Without the medication, he said he wouldn't be
able to get through the day.

"I take my meds and then wither in pain on the floor for five
minutes," said Pantele, 50, of Palm Springs.

But one puff of medical marijuana, and he said his stomach begins to
"mellow" and he is able to relax and eat again.

Many of the people who spoke Wednesday had similar stories. And most
were pleased the council agreed to allow members of the medical
marijuana community to help write an ordinance. A task force will be
designated to figure out how many dispensaries will be allowed in the
city, as well as hours of operation etc.

DID YOU KNOW?

There are more than 15 medical marijuana dispensaries in the Riverside
and San Bernardino county area, including CannaHelp, located in Palm
Desert. There are more than 30 in the San Francisco area and more than
20 in the Los Angeles and West Hollywood areas, according to
http://www.215420.org.