COUNTY MUM ON MENTONE POT DISPENSARY

Despite Moratorium, Collective Still Offers Medical Marijuana

MENTONE - A marijuana collective is still operating here despite a
county moratorium, but county officials had little to say Monday
about enforcement plans.

Mentone Patients Association, which provides medical marijuana to
about 30 patients per day, opened in late summer. The collective's
members grow marijuana for one another.

San Bernardino County has a moratorium on marijuana dispensaries and
collectives in its unincorporated regions - like Mentone.

In September, San Bernardino County spokesman David Wert said Mentone
Patients Association could be subject to fines for violating the moratorium.

However, Wert said Monday that he did not know if county code
enforcement had visited the site.

Phone messages left Monday for county code-enforcement officials were
not returned.

A phone call to the collective was answered by a receptionist, who
refused to comment or to put owner Shannon Troncoso on the phone. The
receptionist, who would not give her name, did confirm that the
collective was still open and operating.