TEMECULA MEDICAL MARIJUANA CO-OP READY TO OPEN

Buoyed by a recent court ruling, the organizers of a medical marijuana
patients' cooperative in Temecula plan to allow members to bring in
and process marijuana by the end of this month.

The announcement this week by Cooperative Patients' Services, formerly
Qualified Patients Resource Center, marks a new chapter in the group's
quest to help medical marijuana users in Temecula, which bans
dispensaries. A number of Temecula businesses are licensed to offer
medical marijuana referrals.

Cooperative organizer Douglas Lanphere insisted Cooperative Patients'
Services is not a dispensary. Rather, it is as a nonprofit
agricultural cooperative akin to grain farmers who pool their
resources to harvest and distribute their crops.

The cooperative isn't selling marijuana since the members already own
it, Lanphere said. Members pay to cover the costs of growing and
handling the marijuana, he said.

Patients must belong to the cooperative and help grow and harvest
marijuana in order to participate, Lanphere said, adding that members
must have doctors' referrals. The cooperative has about 170 members.

The cooperative, which rents storefront space on the southern end of
Old Town Front Street, will allow members to bring in their marijuana
to be processed, Lanphere said.

Lanphere and his colleagues have met with city officials to try to
persuade them to lift the dispensary ban. But Lanphere said an August
ruling by the state Fourth District Court of Appeal gives the
cooperative a firm legal footing. The decision pertains to a case
challenging Anaheim's dispensary ban.

Lanphere cited passages which he said upheld the collective's right to
operate and showed that federal law, which bans marijuana, does not
pre-empt California's medical marijuana laws.

Deputy City Manager Grant Yates said the cooperative's organizers are
"absolutely mistaken" if they think the Anaheim decision gives them
the right to operate.

"If they choose to do that, it is a violation of the city's zoning
ordinance, and we will deal with it appropriately," Yates said.

If the city moves to shut down the cooperative, Lanphere said the
cooperative is prepared to fight the city in court.

Mayor Jeff Comerchero said Temecula also is waiting to determine its
stance until two cases are heard on appeal. Those cases involve bans
on dispensaries imposed by the cities of Corona and Claremont.

Lanphere accused the mayor of flip-flopping, noting Comerchero earlier
this year indicated the conflict between state and federal marijuana
laws was the main hang-up for Temecula.

Comerchero replied he's been consistent on this issue. "We have to
know definitively what the law is," he said. "At the end of the day
when we know what the law is, we'll comply with it." .