CORTE MADERA MAY SHUT DOWN POT DISPENSARIES

Corte Madera may file a lawsuit as soon as next week seeking to shut
down its two medical marijuana dispensaries, the town attorney said
Wednesday.

Earlier this month, the town sent cease-and-desist letters to Marin
Holistic Solutions and Going Green warning the dispensaries to stop
storing, selling and cultivating pot by June 25.

"When they first applied (for a business license) in the spring of
2009, they did not fully disclose the nature of the business," Town
Attorney Jeffrey Walter said in a phone interview Wednesday.

Walter added that the dispensaries are in violation of town zoning
and municipal codes.

Last month the Planning Commission began considering an ordinance
that would have regulated the two dispensaries, both of which opened
last summer in the same Tamal Plaza office complex. The proposed
ordinance also would have allowed Marin Holistic and Going Green to
apply for licensing, Walter said.

However, the Town Council voted 4-0 during a June 1 closed-session
discussion to authorize the cease-and-desist letters, Walter said.
Councilman Michael Lappert was absent.

Walter declined to explain the reasoning behind the council's action,
saying that could jeopardize the town's case.

About 50 medical marijuana patients and concerned residents packed a
council meeting Tuesday night hoping to speak about the
dispensaries.

The speakers, mostly supporters of Marin Holistic and Going Green,
waited more than an hour to address the council, at times spilling
onto the steps outside the council chambers because the room was too
full to hold everyone.

"To say that you support medical marijuana, but you don't want it in
your backyard is hypocrisy," Tiburon resident Kevin Mazzatta said.

Mazzatta added that he doesn't use pot but has friends and family
members who rely on it for treatment.

"This is not 15-year-old kids playing Xbox in their mom's basement
smoking pot," he said.

San Rafael resident Travis Cozzi, an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran,
said he suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety and
depression and doesn't want to drive to San Francisco for marijuana
treatment.

"These (dispensaries) are perfect for vets that have issues," Cozzi
said. "Vets out here, they need this medicine."

Several Corte Madera and Larkspur residents said they support the
town's efforts to close the dispensaries and criticized their
location near Redwood High School.

"They were not above-board when they filled out their business
license applications," said Phyllis Galanis, a Corte Madera resident
who works in the office complex where the dispensaries are situated.

"We will not have a business in Corte Madera that is against federal
law," she said.

Council members could not comment on the issue because of the
potential for litigation, Mayor Carla Condon said after the meeting.

Kim Pelham, who operates the Going Green dispensary, said she had
been working with town officials and police for a year and felt
"completely blind-sided" when the cease-and-desist letter arrived in
the mail earlier this month.

"Our business application said that we were selling retail sales of
organic products," Pelham said Wednesday. "It is still against
federal law for me to put something on there that we're selling marijuana."

Pelham noted that many of her patients live in Corte Madera but are
afraid to speak out because of the stigma associated with marijuana
use. Going Green would be willing to move farther from the high
school or only accept clients over 21 if doing so enabled it to
remain in Corte Madera, she said.

Both dispensaries said they prohibit people under 18 from entering,
and neither intends to shut down before the June 25 deadline.

"We're not leaving," said Scot Candell, an attorney representing
Marin Holistic Solutions. "If they want to go through and file a
lawsuit and try to have an injunction to kick us out, they can. I
think it's questionable whether they're going to win, especially
since they gave us a license to be there through next January."

Marin County officials have ordered Tree of Life dispensary in Santa
Venetia to shut its doors, and they said last month they planned to
send a similar letter to the Marin Wellness Center dispensary in Kentfield.