COUNTY DEMANDS TWO MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES CEASE OPERATIONS IMMEDIATELY

RIVERSIDE - Riverside County officials are moving swiftly to shut down
storefront medical marijuana dispensaries, seeking an injunction
against one and ordering the owner of another to appear before the
Board of Supervisors to explain why he's refused to close his doors,
it was announced today.

The actions come two weeks after the board committed to taking legal
steps to shutter the 35 dispensaries violating a county zoning
ordinance that prohibits the operation of medical marijuana facilities
in unincorporated communities.

Last week, the board filed a request in Superior Court seeking an
injunction against Platinum Collective on Magnolia Avenue in Home
Gardens. The dispensary has been notified that it's operating
illegally but has refused to acknowledge the county's demand for
cessation, according to county Executive Office spokesman Ray Smith.

He said the collective is located less than a mile from an elementary
school, and children pass by the location daily.

The county is seeking $1,000 in civil penalties for each day that the
dispensary has conducted business since March 7, according to Smith.

Similarly, the county has demanded that Compassion and Wellness Center
in Lakeland Village cease operation, apparently without a response.

County attorneys have issued legislative subpoenas instructing the
cannabis collective's operator, Ronald Wayne Williams, to appear
before the board on Jan. 24 to disclose why he hasn't shuttered the
facility.

The owner of the property where the storefront is located, Thomas C.
Deamer, also has been subpoenaed to appear before the board on Jan.
31. The appearances of both men will be waived if they produce
documents in advance explaining their positions, according to Smith.

He said if the men don't comply with the subpoenas, they will be held
in contempt.

According to the Office of County Counsel, dispensary operators who
keep their doors open in the face of county notices demanding that
they shut down could be on the hook for thousands of dollars in
abatement, investigative and enforcement-related costs that the county
incurs trying to close the non-permitted facilities.

By the time a civil trial is convened, costs could reach $20,000,
according to county attorneys.

Smith said 16 facilities have closed their doors in the last
year.

Under a 2006 ordinance, marijuana dispensaries are prohibited from
operating in unincorporated areas of the county.

As with most places throughout the state, the operations sprang up in
response to Proposition 215, also known as the California
Compassionate Use Act of 1996, which paved the way to legal medical
marijuana distribution.

However, according to county attorneys, there's nothing in the act
that prohibits counties and municipalities from outlawing
dispensaries. That was the conclusion last month of the Fourth
District Court of Appeal, which upheld the city of Riverside's blanket
ban on marijuana stores.

Federal authorities don't recognize any storefront variety of cannabis
cooperative as legal. The owner of two such operations in Corona and
Perris was federally prosecuted last year, resulting in a six-month
jail term and probation.

Only a few cities within the county, notably Palm Springs, permit the
activity.

The dispensaries are frequent targets of robberies and burglaries.