SUSANVILLE'S ONLY MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY CLOSES

If you're a medical marijuana user in the city of Susanville and a
member of the CASA Collective, you're going to have to go out of town
to get your medicine now.

On Tuesday, June 1, Tim Ziegler, the operator of CASA -- Californians
for Safe Access -- a storefront collective, cooperative located in the
old California Highway Patrol building just off Main Street in
Susanville, confirmed the cooperative has closed.

Ziegler declined to discuss the reason for the closure, but he
characterized the problem as a "landlord/tenant issue."

According to Ziegler, the cooperative has only closed temporarily, and
he plans to reopen it soon.

"I'm going to reopen it," Ziegler said. "It's a tough economic time,
just like everybody else."

Ziegler grew several crops a year indoors at the CASA site, located
within the city limits of Susanville, using hydroponic growing methods
and high-powered electric lights.

He also raises medical marijuana at an outdoor garden site on
Johnstonville Road that is located in Lassen County.

Both the city and the county have zoning ordinances prohibiting the
cultivation of medical marijuana, but Ziegler maintains his activities
are legal under Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, approved
by California voters in 1996.

California law allows people suffering from AIDS, cancer, anorexia,
chronic pain, arthritis, migraine and "any other illness for which
marijuana provides relief" to grow or possess small amounts of
marijuana with a doctor's recommendation.

Both of Ziegler's operations began before the city and the county
passed the ordinances banning medical marijuana cultivation or
dispensaries. Neither the city nor the county have taken any action to
enforce those ordinances.

Ziegler staunchly defended his right to do what he's doing under
California law in a 2006 interview with the newspaper.

"If I'm doing something wrong, how come I'm still here doing this two
years later?" Ziegler asked.