MARIJUANA DISPENSARY PROPOSED IN OCEANO

A central coast business owner wants to open a medical marijuana
dispensary in Oceano.

Tammy Murray moved to the area about a year ago from Goshen in the
Central Valley, where she owned and operated a club called
Compassionate Cannabis Information Center, Inc.

Murray said she refers to her business as a club to avoid any legal
uncertainty. She applied for a minor use permit in May, and is still
waiting for approval.

Murray said she decided to open a club in San Luis Obispo County after
reading about Narcotics Task Force raids of local mobile
collectives.

"That prompted me to think, 'People really need a safe access point
for the distribution of medical marijuana,'" she said.

So Murray started looking at real estate.

County codes require dispensaries to be located at least 1,000 feet
away from schools and other areas where youth congregate. They also
can't be located in central business districts.

Murray hopes to open the dispensary on the 1400 block of South Fourth
Street in Oceano. Escrow closed on the property on April 20 of this
year.

Murray said she's already reached out to residents and business owners
in the immediate area: "We're doing things the right way and for the
right reasons."

Law enforcement and county government officials still have concerns,
specifically that the dispensary would attract criminals to the area.

But Murray said she's confident her business will "attract the right
kind of people."

Murray has first-hand knowledge of what she says are the benefits of
marijuana. A retired U.S Air Force veteran, Murray said she suffers
from tinnitus and residual pain from a service-related ankle injury.

"I've been a homeopathic practitioner for over 20 years," she said,
adding that she believes in taking medication that's organic rather
than "something that's made out of synthetic chemicals that you're
body can't process."

Employees at the San Luis Obispo County Department of Planning and
Building didn't return phone calls as of press time.

SLO Sheriff's Department spokesman Rob Bryn declined to comment on the
dispensary, "but we still believe that [medical marijuana] storefronts
are illegal."