[420 Girl]

Palm Springs could become the first city in the Coachella Valley to permit medical marijuana dispensaries to operate in the city — providing they comply with state guidelines released in August and are located in areas zoned for industrial use.

City officials have drafted an ordinance that would ban for-profit dispensaries in the city, but allow dispensaries organized as non-profit collectives or cooperatives, as defined in guidelines recently issued by state Attorney General Jerry Brown.

Under the proposed law dispensaries also would be limited to the city’s industrial zones and would have to be at least 500 feet from any school, park, playground or residential area.

The city’s medical marijuana task force will meet to discuss the proposed law at 3 p.m. Tuesday at Palm Springs City Hall, 3200 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way. The City Council is also expected to review, but not vote on the law at its meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

“We’re trying to figure out a way to reasonably allow activities within the state’s Compassionate Use Act, while still recognizing we have federal law that suggest this is illegal drug activity,” said City Attorney Doug Holland. “The idea here is to try to provide balance.”

California law allows medical use of marijuana for people with a doctor’s letter of recommendation. Federal law bans all use or cultivation.

Holland said the law would also go the city's Planning Commission before coming back to the council for a final vote.

Stacy Hochanadel, the owner of the CannaHelp dispensary located in one of the city’s industrial zones, said his business would pass muster under the ordinance, should it become law.

“We’re 524 feet from the nearest residential project, property line to property line,” Hochanadel said today.

The other two dispensaries in Palm Springs — Community Caregivers and the Collective Apothecary of Palm Springs, or C.A.P.S. — are both located on Palm Canyon Drive in commercial zones.

Representatives for the dispensaries were not immediately available for comment.

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