ANOTHER MARIJUANA SHOP CHALLENGES CITY'S BAN

A second medical marijuana storefront has opened in Murrieta, despite
a citywide ban.

Greenhouse Cannabis Club opened earlier this month in a business park
on Jefferson Avenue. Since then, it's been hit with thousands of
dollars in fines and several code violations every day.

Owner Eric McNeil, 34, said he wasn't looking to fight Murrieta's ban
on dispensaries. Most of his collective's 3,000 members are in
Murrieta, and when he found a willing landlord, he jumped at the chance.

He has regrets about his decision to open and he's losing sleep --
nearly $10,000 and counting in fines will do that. But McNeil said he
now plans to fight the city's ban in court as long as it takes.

"Our members are really asking us to put the fight up," McNeil said.

Increasingly, local governments are moving to limit or expel
marijuana dispensaries through their land use powers, despite
California's law allowing the drug.

Federal prosecutors recently stepped up an effort to close marijuana
shops, threatening landlords who rent to dispensaries with legal
trouble. Marijuana is still illegal under federal law.

Murrieta has been among the local governments aggressively battling
to keep marijuana shops out of the city. The storefronts -- which the
city calls dispensaries, though owners say they are nonprofit
collectives -- give out marijuana to members with cards from a doctor
in exchange for a fee for growing the plants and overhead.

The city's first marijuana storefront opened in July, in a similar
park on the other side of Jefferson. The Cooperative Medical Group is
now closed by court order, after going several legal rounds with the
city's attorneys. The parties are still in court, awaiting a final decision.

Murrieta police Capt. Dennis Vrooman said the city learned about the
shop on Sunday, when it visited and asked McNeil to voluntarily close.

McNeil said he did, for a few days, until his attorney said he was
within his rights because he was running a club, not a business.

Since then, building and code inspectors and police officers have
come by daily. McNeil has been earning $2,000 a day in fines for
violations, including running a business without a permit, adding
walls without a permit and disturbing the peace.

The final daily citation is for graffiti, for sticking the foot-tall
letters "GHCC" on the shop's front window.

On Monday, police pulled over a half-dozen patients leaving the shop.

Vrooman said police only pull over drivers if they notice traffic
violations or marijuana being consumed in the car. No one has been
seen using the drug outside of Greenhouse Cannabis Club, he said.

Murrieta sought a court injunction against the first dispensary.
Vrooman said Murrieta would likely follow a similar path against the new one.

McNeil said the city should regulate marijuana clubs, rather than
wasting money fighting them in court.

"If it's now our club there's always going to be another club," he
said. "It will be more cost effective to regulate than to fight it."