MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY TO OPEN

Your Cottonwood Collective, a medical marijuana dispensary, was
scheduled to open Tuesday, Sept. 1, at 3317 B Main St. in Cottonwood.

Only members of the collective can be customers and members must be
physician approved, business owner and six-year Cottonwood resident
Mathew Mosher said.

"We also check to be sure the physician is legitimate," Mosher said.
"Some places don't even do that.

The dispensary would hold the marijuana that members bring in to sell
from their own medical marijuana plants, should anyone grow more than
they can consume of their medical allotment, Mosher said.

"By law, we're not allowed to sell (marijuana), but we can facilitate
transactions between members," Mosher said, adding that the
discrepancy between selling and facilitating amounts to word play.

"I have mixed feelings," said Bill Price, who lives across Main Street
from the dispensary. "If it's done truly for medical reasons, then I
have no problems. If it's done as a guise to pass out dope, I do have
a problem with it."

The business is located directly behind Roger's Frosty and slightly
more than two blocks away from East Cottonwood Elementary School.
Local business owner Jan Kessner, Roger's Frosty manager Debbie Lomont
and others took issue with the dispensary's proximity to these
establishments.

However, medical marijuana dispensaries have not been singled out for
specific zoning regulation by the county.

"Until directed by the board of supervisors, ... we treat it like a
pharmacy," said Rick Simon, assistant director of resource management
for Shasta County.

"I don't think it needs to be in the community, out in front of kids.
I would prefer they bought their marijuana in secret somewhere,"
Cottonwood Barber Shop owner Woody Clendenen said."I knew some people
that did this, there's nothing wrong with them. They're just stoners."

The legalization of medical marijuana use in California occurred with
the passing of Proposition 215 in 1996.

"We the people voted for it," Mosher said. "It's been 14 years now.
Counties have had ample time to make ordinances for it. It's time to
wake-up and get used to what the people want."

Proposition 215 is another term for the Compassionate Use Act of 1996,
according to the California state government Web site.

"Prop. 215 was the first statewide medical marijuana measure voted
into law in the United States. Prop. 215 provides protections to
seriously ill persons who have their doctor's recommendation to use
marijuana for medical purposes. Prop. 215 also provides protections to
the physicians and primary caregivers who assist these seriously ill
persons, who are known as "qualified patients" under SB 420 (Chapter
875, Statutes of 2003)."

The state Web site also lists qualified medical conditions:

"A serious medical condition, as defined by SB 420, is any of the
following: AIDS; anorexia; arthritis; cachexia (wasting syndrome);
cancer; chronic pain; glaucoma; migraine; persistent muscle spasms
(i.e., spasms associated with multiple sclerosis); seizures (i.e.,
epileptic seizures); severe nausea; any other chronic or persistent
medical symptom that either substantially limits a person's ability to
conduct one or more of major life activities as defined in the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, or if not alleviated, may
cause serious harm to the person's safety, physical, or mental health."

"The Chamber welcomes new businesses, that's our position," Cottonwood
Chamber of Commerce President Cheri Skudlarek said.