MARIJUANA DISPENSARY REOPENS

A South Coast Highway medical marijuana dispensary closed by city
officials two weeks ago has reopened.

North County Collective at 913 S. Coast Highway was back in business
Friday after a judge ruled earlier this week that city officials had
not given the business proper notice when they sought a temporary
restraining order to close it.

But city lawyers, in an email to collective lawyer Lance Rogers, said
they still considered the collective to be operating illegally.

The email said the city would seek civil fines and penalties against
the collective for every day it operated pending an Aug. 12 court
hearing on the city's request for a permanent injunction to close it
for good.

"The city is saying they may still sue them for $2,500 a day while
they're open," Rogers said.

Vista Superior Court Judge Earl Maas on Wednesday dissolved a July 14
temporary restraining order he issued to close the collective.

In his ruling, Mass wrote that the collective "may operate until the
(Aug. 12) hearing on the preliminary injunction."

City Attorney John Mullen said Wednesday that the city has the option
of going back to court to seek a new temporary restraining order to
close the dispensary pending the Aug. 12 hearing.

Mullen did not return phone messages Friday.

Given Maas' ruling, Rogers said, it would be "disrespectful to the
court" for the city to seek any further court action before Aug. 12.

Collective operator John Scandalios said Friday that there has been a
steady stream of patients returning to the dispensary since it
reopened Thursday.

On Rogers' advice, Scandalios declined to say how many patients his
collective serves. He said he expected the number to grow because his
is the only dispensary still operating in Oceanside.

Over the past several months, city lawyers have obtained court orders
to close Green Ocean Collective on El Camino Real, Abaca Medical
Collective on South Coast Highway and CKS on Oceanside Boulevard.

Mayor Jim Wood earlier this week said he doesn't want the dispensaries
operating in Oceanside.

The city says the dispensaries operated illegally because they didn't
have business licenses ---- which they can't get because city zoning
codes don't include marijuana dispensaries as acceptable businesses.

Dispensary operators contend that the city is thwarting Proposition
215, the Compassionate Use Act approved by voters in 1996 to authorize
the use of marijuana as a medicine under a doctor's
recommendation.

"I have some very sick patients, people that come in here. They're not
ambulatory," Scandalios said. "If they shut me down, too, these people
are going to have to travel 40 miles or more. That's
outrageous."

Scandalios said he opened his collective, first on Copperwood Way then
on South Coast Highway, because he was unhappy with the way other
dispensaries were run.

He said he uses marijuana on a doctor's recommendation to relieve pain
from knee and shoulder injuries.

"I started going into some of these dispensaries to get my medication;
I'll tell you, they were pretty shady," Scandalios said. "They were
like a back-alley operation."

Scandalios said he spent about $50,000 remodeling the South Coast
Highway building he leases, installed security cameras and hired two
security guards who are on duty during collective operating hours,
patrolling inside and out.

"This is what a dispensary should look like," Scandalios said. "This
is how it should operate."