OPENING OF MEDICAL POT DISPENSARY RAISES QUESTIONS IN STOCKTON

STOCKTON - Pathways Family Health Cooperative Counseling opened
quietly in mid-November, hanging an attractive green and yellow sign
over its East Acacia Street storefront. And though the co-op had been
granted a business license, it was nearly two weeks before city
officials realized it was a medicinal marijuana dispensary.

The opening of Pathways will force the city to reconsider specific
regulation of medicinal marijuana dispensaries, effectively abandoned
in 2005 when a moratorium against their establishment was lifted.

The city has also to consider what to do about Pathways, which City
Attorney Ren Nosky said obtained its business license under false pretenses.

"They did not disclose to the department that issues business
licenses that they were a marijuana dispensary," Nosky said.

The application for a business license, dated Oct. 22, describes the
co-op as a "natural food and supplement store," selling gluten-free
and all-natural food, supplements and herbal remedies. That is
accurate, said Lynn Smith, director of the co-op's board.

"Cannabis is an herbal remedy, and herbal remedies are in the
license," he said.

Smith said the co-op chose Stockton because the city had no ban or
moratorium, unlike Lodi, where a moratorium has been extended into the spring.

"If they didn't want a dispensary (in Stockton), they would have had
a ban," Smith said.

Nosky said though there is no code forbidding medical marijuana
dispensaries, neither is there one allowing them. The same argument
was used in 2007, when the city blocked the opening of a marijuana
club downtown. It also had been issued a business license, to sell
"alternative medicine and herbs."

"There is no authorized use under our development code for a medical
marijuana dispensary," Nosky said.

The City Council in 2005 voted to lift a moratorium on medicinal
marijuana dispensaries. Explaining his vote, then-Mayor Ed Chavez
said at the time that the city had not fulfilled its promise to study
the issue. Mayor Ann Johnston said the city will do so now.

"There are several possibilities we need to discuss: outright
prohibition, leaving it the way it is, or allowing it under certain
conditions and in certain places," she said. "Just because it's not
in the list of permitted uses doesn't mean it might not be some day."

Johnston said she needed to do more research before taking a position.

Smith's landlord, Mahala Burns, said she did not know Smith was
opening a marijuana dispensary; she thought it was to be a "health
and wellness center." Still, Burns said, Pathways has been a good tenant.

"I don't have any problem with him, and I don't really have any
problem with medical marijuana. I just would have liked it to have
been disclosed to us," she said.

Smith, who has lived in Stockton for 26 years, said he is just trying
to provide a safe, clean place for the co-op's members to get their medication.

"They could go to Oakland. They could go to Sacramento. Or they
could buy it off the street," he said. "This is taking the criminal
element out of the process."

Smith's store is immaculate and organized. An armed security guard
patrols during operating hours, escorting clients to their cars.
There are racks displaying organic foods and other supplements. A few
weeks ago Smith had a visit from the Stockton Police Department. He
let them in, and they inspected his operation to ensure he was
complying with state law.

"As far as Prop. 215 goes, it appears that they're in compliance, but
we do have this other permitting issue that we're working with the
City Attorney's office to resolve," said Deputy Police Chief Mark Helms.

Smith said it's not his intention to cause trouble. He wants Pathways
to be a community asset. He has gone to neighbors to assuage concerns
over how the nonprofit co-op is run.

"They think we're selling drugs to addicts and kids," Smith said. "We're not."