WESTLAKE REJECTS POT DISPENSARY APPEAL

Council, Many Local Residents Want Medical Marijuana Facility To Close

Operators and clients of an unauthorized medicinal marijuana
dispensary in Westlake Village made impassioned pleas Wednesday night
to keep their doors open, arguing it shouldn't be demonized for
supplying pot to credentialed and seriously ill patients.

The City Council wasn't having it, voting unanimously to reject the
operator's appeal in a case being closely watched around the county.

Minutes later, the council enacted a temporary moratorium to further
strengthen the city's position that medicinal pot dispensaries aren't
welcome.

"I wasn't persuaded that this was a good use in that setting,"
Councilwoman Susan McSweeney told a standing-room-only crowd in the
council chamber.

The dispute highlights the tension between medicinal marijuana users,
who believe state government and California voters have given them the
right to have easy access to the drug, and local governments, who they
contend are doing everything in their power to keep them out.

Ron Glantz, who opened Amazing Healing Supply this year in the back
corner of a nondescript business complex on La Baya Drive, said the
nonprofit collective serves only doctor-recommended patients over 18.
His attorney argued that the cooperative should be viewed as a
permit-eligible medical facility, no different than a medical office
or pharmacy. Glantz said he would consider his legal options.

Westlake Village's planning director and city attorney countered that
current zoning in the business park explicitly states allowable uses,
and pot dispensaries are not among them. The operator was told this
beforehand and opened anyway, which didn't seem to sit well with the
council.

"You should have spent time talking to us before opening, not after,"
Councilwoman Philippa Klessig said.

Marijuana used for medical purposes is legal in California, and
patients can grow and possess it. Counties also must offer a voluntary
identification card program, upheld by a recent U.S. Supreme Court
decision.

But dispensaries that sell to documented patients remain in the cross
hairs of communities that fight unauthorized outlets.

No city or unincorporated area in Ventura County currently permits
such a facility, though delivery services exist.

Erik Johnson, 39, of Newbury Park was hoping Westlake Village, which
is in Los Angeles County, would set an example. Johnson is a
tax-paying parent and local youth baseball coach who teaches youth
leadership courses. He said he also is a hemophiliac, HIV positive and
a regular medicinal cannabis user. He said he ingests the medicine,
instead of smoking it in front of his children.

"I need the medicine to be able to eat," he told the council, urging
it to amend the ordinance so the dispensary could stay, or find a way
for it to legally relocate. "This is close and convenient for a lot of
legitimate users."

Others invoked Proposition 215 -- The Compassionate Use Act of 1996 --
which encourages federal and local governments to implement a plan to
provide for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all
patients in need. Supporters questioned how Westlake Village could
have rules allowing strip clubs and bars in certain areas, yet ban
medicinal marijuana dispensaries.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, they pointed out, announced in
March that the U.S. Justice Department would no longer prosecute
medical marijuana dispensaries that follow the laws of the state where
they do business. Currently, 13 states have laws allowing the use of
medical marijuana.

"It's time for change," said Keefe Novoa, 53, of Thousand Oaks. "The
people of California voted this in."

Tenants in the business complex, however, complained that Amazing
Healing Supply wasn't a good fit, pointing to increased traffic,
crowds of young people, and users smoking marijuana and urinating in
the parking lot in what historically has been a quiet area.

Kirk Miyashiro, principal of Oaks Christian High School, said he was
concerned the dispensary is too close, about a half mile, to his
campus and Westlake High School. Peggy Buckles, a board member of
Conejo Valley Unified School District, echoed the sentiment.

Even medicinal marijuana advocates felt the dispensary's open-first,
ask-permission-second approach was wrong.

"What we saw tonight is an example, in a small way, of some of the
problems rogue shops create for the movement," said Michael R. Meyer
of the nationwide advocacy group Americans for Safe Access in an
interview. "Medical cannabis operations must comply with local laws,
including zoning and land use codes and laws."