RANCHO MIRAGE OK'S MEDICAL MARIJUANA DELIVERY

The Rancho Mirage City Council voted Thursday to allow medical
marijuana deliveries to qualified residents.

And if their dispensary won't deliver for free, the city will
subsidize up to $25 of travel costs per patient per month within a
12-mile radius. Dispensaries would be banned within city limits.

The city's "Medical Cannabis Compassionate Access Program" is
believed to be the first of its kind in the state.

"This is an experiment," Mayor Richard Kite said.

The dispensary ban was approved on a 4-0 vote, but Councilman Ron
Meepos voted against the subsidy and allowing delivery.

"Funding marijuana delivery to patients and not for other medicines
to be delivered to patients, to me that's a moral problem," Meepos said.

Councilman Scott Hines didn't vote because he works for a firm that
represents a dispensary.

The effective date isn't clear because the council first will have to
lift a moratorium on all dispensaries, which won't expire until
December. The dispensary ban must go to a Planning Commission vote,
which may come next week.

Just before the meeting, the city was served with a $650,000 lawsuit
from two dispensaries, one of which briefly opened in the city and
another that tried to.

Jeff Lake, the attorney representing the two dispensaries - Desert
Heart Collective and Metro Meds Herbal Solutions - said the plan is
unconstitutional because it doesn't really ensure residents have access.

"If every city in the county adopted this ordinance, there would be
no access for anyone," Lake said.

The suit also claims the city violated several sections of the
California Constitution, including the 1996 voter-approved medical
marijuana law.