KNABE SEEKS TO STOP DISPENSARIES

No Plan In Place For Marijuana Facilities, Yet

Faced with two medical marijuana dispensaries possibly opening in Hacienda
Heights and now Rowland Heights, Supervisor Don Knabe has added teeth to an
earlier proposal to restrict the dispensaries.

Knabe now wants to temporarily ban them in unincorporated areas of Los
Angeles County.

The board will vote Tuesday on whether to adopt a 45-day moratorium, which
would give the county time to create zoning standards for dispensaries,
said Rick Velasquez, deputy to Knabe.

The county has been approached by two parties planning to open
dispensaries, one in Hacienda Heights on Halliburton Road and Hacienda
Boulevard. County officials were recently contacted by another person who
plans to open a dispensary on the 19000 block of Colima Road.

"These issues just came to our attention,' Velasquez said. "(Knabe's)
concern is that we don't want to have problems with having dispensaries
near schools or homes, and that's why he's moving on it so quickly.'

No dispensaries now exist in unincorporated county areas as far as he
knows, but Velasquez said there is no way to be certain since they are
unregulated.

The county has no zoning ordinances regarding medical marijuana dispensaries.

State law does not detail how to distribute marijuana to patients who use
the drug legally. That leaves the responsibility to local governments and
law enforcement agencies, which are wary of running afoul of federal laws
prohibiting the drug, said Dale Gieringer, coordinator for the California
Chapter of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws).

"Scores of cities and towns have done these preemptive ordinances' in
response to the explosion of marijuana dispensaries in the last few months,
Gieringer said.

Cannabis collectives have more than doubled in the last year, he said,
adding that he knows of 160 in California. In Los Angeles, there were
virtually no dispensaries before the beginning of last year, when Senate
Bill 420 took effect, upholding medical marijuana patients' rights, he
said. Now, there are at least 15, according to NORML.