DISPENSARY FILES CLAIM AGAINST CITY

Rancho Mirage faces a legal claim from a marijuana dispensary it shut
down while officials sift through conflicting legal signals on the
issue.

On Thursday, attorney Jeff Lake filed a $530,000 claim with the city
on behalf of Desert Heart Collective, the first step toward filing a
lawsuit.

Rancho Mirage has 45 days to either pay or reject the claim, at which
point the collective would be ready to sue, Lake said.

But he added it still doesn't have to come to that.

"We are working with the city diligently and are attempting to get an
ordinance passed before the moratorium expires, which is Dec. 15,"
Lake said.

That seemed unlikely after Thursday's City Council meeting, where
members voted 4-1 to revisit proposed regulations for operating
dispensaries in the city at their Jan. 20 meeting.

Councilman Scott Hines voted no, saying they should try to resolve the
matter sooner.

Another council meeting is set for Dec. 14 for a vote on extending the
dispensary moratorium, which Lake calls "illegal and unenforceable" in
the claim.

The council first adopted that moratorium Sept. 16 after discovering
Desert Heart Collective had opened at 42-900 Bob Hope Drive, Suite
111.

The claim is seeking revenue, wages and other costs Lakes said were
lost when the dispensary was shut down because of the moratorium.

Rancho Mirage had no law against dispensaries when Desert Heart
applied for a business license. But the application was rejected on
the grounds dispensaries weren't permitted by existing zoning.

City Attorney Steve Quintanilla said during the council meeting some
California cities had turned dispensaries away without banning them
based on the federal prohibition on all pot usage.

But a state 4th District Court of Appeals panel ruled Anaheim couldn't
use federal law to justify its ban, and on Wednesday the state Supreme
Court turned down that city's appeal of the decision.

A statement in that ruling indicated the Supreme Court thinks it
"unlikely" that cities can ban dispensaries outright, Quintanilla said.

Two residents spoke in opposition to dispensaries at the
meeting.

Rick Smith said he isn't against medical marijuana for patients who
truly need it.

But he said ads in local weekly papers for existing dispensaries make
it obvious they're going after a different market.

"This one offers $25 off a consultation with a doctor. Why wouldn't
you be going to your primary care physician?" Smith asked.

Part-time resident Bob Garner said storefront dispensaries are
charging patients too much for medical cannabis and should be banned,
keeping distribution between medical marijuana collective members
without storefronts.

"Everything's in disarray except the dollars rolling in," he said.