[420 Girl]

With Cathedral City on track to be the sixth city in the Coachella Valley to pass a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries, attention and anticipation are focusing on Palm Springs, which in March became the first in the valley — and Riverside County — to pass a law allowing dispensaries.

The new ordinance is the result of three years of soul searching and legal debates by city officials, who, in the meantime, turned a benign eye on first two, then a small flood of dispensaries that opened in violation of a moratorium passed in 2006.

An estimated seven were operating in March, now down to five.

But under the new law, which went into effect in April, Palm Springs will issue only two permits, probably later this year, setting the stage for a spirited competition and, possibly, further legal battles as the city moves to close down illegal operations.

City Attorney Doug Holland said he has filed papers to get injunctions against three of the five, but did not give names or details.

“The idea is to hopefully have that process completed by the time the council will be approving the permitted coops and collectives, so the coops and collectives can open,” Holland said.

In the meantime, the city is about two months into a 90-day period during which it is accepting applications for the two licenses. After an early July deadline, officials have 30 days to review the applications before sending their recommendations to the City Council.

To qualify, dispensaries must first meet a list of requirements, from being legally organized as nonprofit collectives to being located in areas of the city zoned for industrial use and passing criminal background checks to be run on employees.

They also have to pay an application fee of $7,500 to cover the city's administrative costs.

So far, Craig Ewing, director of planning, has received two applications, he reported.

CannaHelp: Owner Stacy Hochanadel originally opened this dispensary on El Paseo in Palm Desert in 2005, sparking a two-year battle with that city, which ended when his lease ran out in 2007. After reopening in Palm Springs last year, Hochanadel closed his doors again when the dispensary ordinance passed in March, a move calculated to increase his chances of getting one of the city licenses.

Organic Solutions: Another displaced dispensary, this time from Desert Hot Springs, where owner Jim Camper opened briefly in 2007 but closed after only a few weeks due to threatened legal action by the city. Like Hochanadel, Camper is playing a waiting game with Palm Springs, holding off on opening his business in the hope of getting one of the legal licenses.

Of the five dispensaries still in operation, some, such as the West Valley Patients Association in North Palm Springs, are staying mum on their plans.

But, even if Hochanadel and Camper remain the only two applicants, neither is guaranteed a license, said Ewing.

“It's the council's decision whether to grant the license,” he said.

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...m-springs.html