POT COLLECTIVES FACE FIRST CITY DEADLINES

If more than half the nonprofit medical marijuana collectives in the
city continue to operate after this Sunday, they will be doing so
illegally, officials say.

Municipal Code 5.87 will go into effect Aug. 29, and its restrictions
- -- mainly those having to do with proximity to schools -- on medical
marijuana collectives will nullify more than 40 of them.

"We're working on the process, and we're already in the midst of
readying enforcement for Aug. 29," said Erik Sund, the city's business
relations manager. "It's going to be a process, but we're aware of all
the collectives, and proper noticing has already occurred for those
affected by Aug. 29."

Sund said he estimates that between 92 and 95 collectives are
operating within Long Beach city limits today.

However, the new collective permitting laws set forth in Municipal
Code 5.87 restrict where collectives can operate. They cannot be
within a 1,500-foot radius of a public or private high school and they
cannot be within 1,000-foot radius of a public or private institution
that services kindergarten through eighth grade.

Because of those specific restrictions, between 55% and 70% of those
existing collectives will be operating illegally if they do not cease
operation before next Monday, Sund said. He was unable to release the
specific names of those collectives.

The city is still vetting applications for official permitting. About
54 applications were received for collective permits, Sund said. Some
of those permits may be included in the 90-plus that already are open,
while others could be slated to open if they receive a permit, he added.

"Everyone who submitted an application is still going through the
review process," Sund said.

That review process is scheduled for completion in the near future,
possibly within the next 10 days, Sund said, and then the list of
those that applied will be made available. It will be completed before
the Sept. 20 lottery, which will decide the other most difficult part
of the new law: No collective may operate within a 1,000-foot radius
of another collective.

Officials are working on securing a lottery machine to use ping pong
balls for a show that will be open to the public and all interested
parties, said Mike Mais, assistant city attorney.

"The way it will work, let's say if you are the first applicant pulled
and then there is another applicant (within the 1,000 feet) who's
number or ball is pulled -- that second person would be disqualified
because they'd be within a buffer zone," he said. "So yes, there could
be some unhappy applicants. We thought very carefully, and it's the
fairest way. It's totally at random and we're going to use every
safeguard we can to make sure it stays that way."

While Sund said he was unable to speak on the specifics, some
collective officials have gotten early word whether they have cleared
the first hurdle.

"We are actually in the system," said Matt Abrams, co-director of
collective One Evol ("love" backwards). "We're in the system and we
have a lottery number."

Abrams and his fellow directors will need the lottery number, because
their location on Broadway is within 1,000 feet of the collective
S.H.H. across the street.

Abrams said he and his colleagues were willing to roll the dice on
keeping the collective. Application fees are between $10,000 and
$30,000 depending on how big the collective is and there will be no
refund for those collectives that lose the lottery.

"We had this money put away for potential problems, so basically that
money came from our legal fund," Abrams said. "The ultimate backup
plan is if we don't win, try to find another location. The problem is,
the city hasn't let us know when another application process would
be."

Once the lottery is completed, all of the new law will apply, and
those collectives that lost also will have to immediately close.

"Technically, they're all (currently) in violation (until applications
are officially approved)," Mais said. "We hope that if they are
illegal (either on Aug. 29 or Sept. 20) that they'd simply cease operation."

Sund said his department, the attorney's office and the Long Beach
Police Department would work to ensure the new law was being followed.

Besides the "buffer zones" other difficulties for regulation include
the need for sufficient sound-absorbing insulation, sufficient
odor-absorbing ventilation and exhaust system so that odor generated
inside the property is not detected outside the property, that the
collective is operating without profit, and that all marijuana sold is
cultivated within the city limits and that all cultivation sites are
registered with the city.

Sund said his office has worked on reaching out to applicants with
workshops to make sure they fill out the paperwork properly so that
they can be considered.

"(The process) has been tough, but it's being handled pretty well --
but it's definitely been difficult," Sund said.

According to Abrams, getting through to City Hall hasn't been so
easy.

"Honestly, I feel like this is playing out pretty long," he said. "We
haven't had a lot of communication and honestly there have been a lot
of unknowns."

Much of that mystery will be cleared away in the coming weeks, as more
specific information on the collectives will become public
information, Sund said.

The complete municipal code, including the new marijuana ordinance, is
at http://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientId=16115&stateId=5&stateName=