ACTION TAKEN AGAINST MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

Riverside County officials said Wednesday they have begun legal action
to close about three dozen medical marijuana dispensaries in
unincorporated areas.

Attorneys filed for an injunction and issued legislative subpoenas
against two of the stores, the latest volley since the Board of
Supervisors authorized crackdowns on Dec. 13.

The county asked a Riverside County Superior Court judge to declare
Platinum Collective in Home Gardens, near Riverside, a public nuisance
and issue an injunction to shut down operations at the shop in the
12000 block of Magnolia Avenue, east of McKinley Street. According to
the Dec. 21 court filing, the dispensary creates traffic problems, and
officials said it poses a safety issue for children who walk past the
shop on their way to Villegas Middle School.

The county is asking for civil penalties of $1,000 for each day
Platinum Collective has been open since March 7, when the business was
notified it was operating illegally, and seeks reimbursement for the
cost of abatement, investigation and enforcement.

A woman who answered the phone at the collective said no one was
available to comment.

In other action, the county served legislative subpoenas on the
operator of the Compassion and Wellness Center in Lakeland Village,
near Lake Elsinore, and the owner of the property in the 15000 block
of Grand Avenue near El Contento Drive.

Dispensary operator Ronald Wayne Williams was ordered to appear before
the Board of Supervisors on Jan. 24, and property owner Thomas C.
Deamer on Jan. 31, to explain why the dispensary remains open.

"That's the logical next step before we start filing (civil)
lawsuits," said Ken King, a senior code enforcement officer. "There's
not a lot of things they can say. The ordinance is clear. It shouldn't
be a surprise to anybody in this field." Failure to comply will result
in contempt of court proceedings, county officials said.

Deamer, 64, said he sold the building to Williams in 2007 and is
receiving mortgage payments from him. Williams began leasing the
property in 2003 for an auto sales business, which he lost in 2009.
Deamer, a former air conditioning repairman, said he was unaware
Williams was going to open a dispensary and fears the property could
be seized.

"That's mine and my wife's retirement," he said.

Williams did not return a telephone message Wednesday.

One dispensary already has closed and six more have indicated they
intend to shut down, King said.

The county's push focuses on storefront operations, which are illegal
under a dispensary ban county that supervisors approved in 2006. In
the years since, court rulings have upheld local authority to shutter
dispensaries, including a city of Riverside case that has been
appealed to the state Supreme Court, King said.

Dispensaries in cities are not covered by the county's ban.