Pasadena Star-News - Getting tough on pot outlets
Here, near the 10th anniversary of voter-approved medicinal marijuana in California, the going is rough for purveyors in the San Gabriel Valley. The two latest dispensaries opened and quickly shut down due to county permit violations.

"Medical functions belong in a medical facility to protect the public as well as patients," said Tony Bell, spokesman for county Supervisor Michael Antonovich. "We believe these current operators' intention is to circumvent the law. We have to be vigilant, and our office will pursue every legal avenue \."

County code mandates that medicinal marijuana dispensaries possess a business license and conditional-use permit, both required since a moratorium approved unanimously in June 2005 by the Board of Supervisors was lifted in June of this year, officials said.

On Wednesday, Alternative Caregivers of Pasadena closed shop after receiving a violation notice from county officials.

"They were conducting a medical marijuana dispensary without a conditional use permit first being obtained," said Alex Garcia with the county's regional planning department.

A hand-made sign posted on the door Thursday told patrons the dispensary, located in an unobtrusive office building at 3868 E. Colorado Blvd., was closed.

Two blocks away and a day earlier, another outlet called California Compassionate Caregivers, this one at 3682 E. Colorado Blvd., also closed shop.

The owners alerted customers with a similar sign, as well as placing a farewell notice on Weedtracker.com, a Web site dedicated to medical marijuana.

"We put our heart and soul and truly wanted to make a difference, but we failed you," reads the Web posting. "We wanted to serve The City of Hope and its cancer patients. We wanted to help the AIDS center located by us."

Los Angeles County Counsel Rick Weiss said letters were sent to the owners of both properties informing them permits were required.

Weiss said the requirements were set up not to discourage them, but to ensure they operate appropriately.

In Pasadena, a city zoning code amendment permanently banning the dispensaries was approved in September 2005, despite an outcry from advocates, said city spokeswoman Ann Erdman.

"People who advocated for medical marijuana packed the hearing room," she recalled, "but \ decided it should prohibit use in Pasadena because a lot of people try to circumvent laws."

"It's easy to essentially buy a prescription off the Internet," she added, "and there is no requirement at the clinics for patients to show they have glaucoma or whatever legitimate illness they may claim."

But William Dolphin, a spokesman for Safe Access for America, a medicinal marijuana advocacy group, insisted that despite such claims, the 200,000 people considered to be in need of the drug should be able to readily obtain the information and medicine they need.

"\ is the most widely used recreational drug in the world," William Dolphin said. "There hasn't been much of a problem getting it on the black market. We're concerned about people who need to know about it and where to get it."

An exemption from criminal penalties for medical marijuana use created by Proposition 215, or the Compassionate Use Act, approved in November 1996 by 56 percent of voters, lies at the root of the controversy; the issue has arisen statewide and in surrounding communities including Monrovia, Monterey Park and Rowland Heights.

In fact, since the proposition passed, two dozen cities and seven counties - including Los Angeles, Riverside and Santa Barbara - have approved regulations allowing the dispensaries. However, three times as many municipalities have passed moratoriums or banned cannabis clubs outright, according to published reports.

And despite considerable interest in its use for treatment of glaucoma, AIDS-related conditions, neuropathic pain, spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis, and chemotherapy-induced nausea, the FDA has not approved marijuana for medical use in the United States.

Despite federal law, possession and sale of marijuana is carried out in approximately 250 outlets statewide, having proliferated in the last decade.