POT DISPENSARY DEFIES CITY ORDER TO CLOSE

Council Voted to Take Action Against CannaHelp Last Week in Closed Session

PALM DESERT - A Palm Desert medical marijuana dispensary is staying
open despite a cease-and-desist letter the city issued on Tuesday
ordering it to close.

The letter was issued to CannaHelp at 73-350 El Paseo after an
undercover police officer "who did not have correct credentials to
buy medical marijuana" bought some there, according to city officials
and as reported Tuesday on thedesertsun.com.

Owner Stacy Hochanadel sent his employees home Tuesday, but he stayed
behind with a few volunteers. Hochanadel said his attorney has
advised him that it's a civil matter and that he cannot be arrested
if he stays open.

"I don't think it's right what they're doing," he said.

The city's order followed a City Council vote in closed session
Thursday, said City Attorney David Erwin. This is the latest action
taken in the ongoing controversy over medical marijuana dispensaries
in the Coachella Valley.

Thursday's vote was not reported during the council's open session,
on Erwin's advice.

"I felt this was an action we needed to take, and we needed to take
the action before we reported it publicly," Erwin said Tuesday.

Councilman Robert A. Spiegel said the reason for the closed-session
vote was an investigation "not by our police department but by
another police department" in California.

"When they were investigated, they sold marijuana to an undercover
police person who did not have correct credentials to buy marijuana," he said.

The city is not releasing the staff report presented to the council
in the closed session because of the potential for litigation on the
closure order, City Clerk Rachelle Klassen said.

Hochanadel signed an agreement with the city earlier this year that
the dispensary would sell medical marijuana only to patients with a
medical marijuana identification card issued by Riverside County.

California law allows medical use of marijuana for patients with a
doctor's letter of recommendation, and they are not required to have
identification cards.

Federal law bans all use, cultivation or distribution of marijuana.

CannaHelp has had a business license issued by the city since it
opened in October 2005. The dispensary was closed briefly earlier
this month when the Special Investigation Unit of the Riverside
County Sheriff's Department served a search and seizure warrant on
the business.

Palm Desert Police Capt. Steve Thetford said his officers have not
made "any significant arrests out of CannaHelp" in recent months, the
ongoing county investigation notwithstanding.

Spiegel, who said he voted to close the dispensary, would like to see
medical marijuana regulated by the federal government.

"It should be dispensed through a pharmacy," he said Tuesday. "That's
what I would prefer to see happen, and hopefully someday that's the
way it will be."

Hochanadel said he would have liked the city to talk with him before
issuing the letter.

"I was hoping my city would stand behind me and support me. At this
point they're trying to pull the carpet out from under my feet," he said.