[420 Girl]

The counter and floors may not be quite finished, but Stacy Hochanadel said the doors will open at 10 a.m. today at CannaHelp in Palm Springs, the latest incarnation of the medical marijuana dispensary he ran in Palm Desert for two years.

“It's what I believe in,” Hochanadel said, wiping construction dust off a chair before sitting down for an interview on Tuesday. “We'll be pre-registering patients.”

Hochanadel is keeping mum on when he will start selling medical marijuana to customers as he waits for Palm Springs to take action on the new guidelines for dispensaries that state Attorney General Jerry Brown issued last month.

The nonbinding guidelines state that for-profit dispensaries are illegal under California's medical marijuana laws but not-for-profit collectives and cooperatives are allowed.

If CannaHelp complies with those guidelines, it may be able to operate legally in Palm Springs, City Attorney Doug Holland said.

“They have to be closed. They have to grow their own (marijuana),” Holland said. “They can't sell to anyone who's not a member of the collective. They can't buy from someone who's outside of group.”

Hochanadel said CannaHelp will comply with the guidelines, and he wants to work with the city.

“We've set up a business plan. Last time we didn't know,” he said, referring to his battles with Palm Desert and Riverside County over his first dispensary on El Paseo.

Although Palm Desert granted Hochanadel a business license for the dispensary in September 2005, city officials almost immediately started pressuring him to close. In December 2006, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department raided the business, and the county filed criminal charges against Hochanadel and two of his managers in January 2007.

The charges were dismissed in Indio Municipal Court in April.

He may get a softer landing in Palm Springs. The city passed a moratorium on dispensaries in March 2006, but has allowed two — Community Caregivers and the Collective Apothecary of Palm Springs — to operate illegally. The moratorium expired six months ago, and Holland said the new guidelines could mean the city may not need a dispensary ordinance.

“All we're going to do is go (to the City Council) and say if you're going to allow co-ops and collectives in the city that they be allowed in industrial zones, but only in industrial zones and nowhere else,” he said.

Hochanadel's new location, 505A Industrial Place, is zoned for commercial-manufacturing use, said Glenn Mlaker, assistant planner for the city.

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