MORE REGULATIONS FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES IN LA PUENTE

LA PUENTE - Medical marijuana sellers are chaffing at a new set or
regulations handed down by the city.

New rules want shops to open for shorter hours and require the shops
to maintain patient records that must be handed over to city
officials upon request.

For one dispensary operator, it was a puzzling move because the City
Council has been pushing for banning the dispensaries.

"It doesn't make any sense if (later) they are going to close us
down," said Jon Salman, who runs Trinity Wellness Group on Amar Road.

On Tuesday the City Council will consider a ordinance banning the
nearly 10 dispensaries in the city.

Meanwhile, the new set of rules were unanimously approved by the
council last week. The rules took effect immediately.

Salman and others said their shops were already following the rules
even if they weren't previously written down.

"I have no problem about that because we have been doing that since
day one," said Ed Esposito, an attorney who represents THC2
Cooperative on Francisquito Avenue.

The dispensaries can only be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday
through Friday. On Sunday, the shops can open at noon and must close
at 5 p.m. Previously, the shops were allowed to stay open from 8
a.m. to 8 p.m. every day.

Some dispensaries said they would suffer financially by the shorter
business days. Other said they would manage but their patients would lose out.

The 10 a.m. start was to prevent school children from stopping at
the shops, Salman said, some of which are close to schools.

"What sense does that make?" he said. "The kids aren't allowed in
there in the first place."

Other parts of the ordinance limit the amount of dried marijuana and
plants allowed, and forces dispensaries to track patients medical
recommendation and membership. It also asks the dispensaries say
where the marijuana comes from.

Dispensaries also must keep records, including maintaining
"membership records on-site of have them reasonably available." The
practice follows guidelines set down by the Attorney General.

A later provision states that city officials, such as code
enforcement officers, and deputies "requesting admission for the
purpose of determining compliance with these standards shall be
given unrestricted access."

In order to buy medical marijuana, a person has to join a collective
or cooperative, said Jamie Casso, one of the attorneys handling the
issue for the city.

Part of the reason is to ensure people aren't joining multiple
collectives or cooperatives across the city, city officials said.

"We need to ensure they are doing it for the right reasons," Mayor
David Argudo said.

Salman said anyone requested the membership records would be asking
him to break federal medical privacy laws known as the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. He said he wouldn't
hand them over.

"I would flaunt the HIPAA guidelines right in their face," he said.

Casso said the city won't ask any dispensaries to violate the privacy laws.

"We would have to be respectful ... of the requirements of HIPAA," he said.

Of the 40 cities and counties across the state with medical
marijuana regulations, most don't allow free access to patients
documents, said Kris Hermes, a spokesman for Americans for Safe
Access, an Oakland-based medical marijuana advocacy group. Allowing
access to records is a recent trend.

"I think the presumption is that people are doing bad things but
that should not entitle local officials to have unfettered access to
patient records," he said.

Argudo said the city wants to make sure the businesses are run safely.

"Implementing restrictions and holding dispensaries accountable for
proper dispensing of marijuana products is paramount to improving
our community and holding them to higher standards," Argudo said.