[420 Girl]

An Anderson resident and business owner has asked the Anderson City Council to allow her to open a medical marijuana dispensary within city limits, but officials say it's not likely to happen.

Gina Munday, 48, uses medical marijuana for a back injury and migraine headaches. In February, she started a collective that operates in unincorporated Shasta County and is called The Green Heart, from which she provides medical marijuana to 11 people. Through contacts with collectives in other areas of the state, she also provides The Green Heart's members with other items containing THC, the psychoactive substance found in marijuana's buds.

Munday, who operates a residential construction company, now wants to open a dispensary within Anderson city limits. To do that, she has asked city officials to provide a zoning variance or approve a rezoning to allow such a business.

"We want to open a nice, professional dispensary where people can feel safe," she said. "We want to have a professional reception area where we will check their identification and verify the doctor's recommendation before we process their application to join the collective."

So far, neither Planning Director John Stokes nor City Attorney Michael Fitzpatrick hold out much hope that the council will consider the request.

"Unless it is addressed specifically in our zoning laws, it is not allowed," said Stokes, who said he has conveyed similar information to Munday. "I don't have a zoned district that would accommodate her."

At Stokes' request, Fitzpatrick issued a legal opinion on the question last week that flatly states such an amendment to the city's zoning ordinances should not be considered "because California law does not allow cities to pass ordinances in violation of federal law."

However, contrary to federal law, California law under Proposition 215 allows people with a doctor's recommmendation to have up to 12 immature or six mature marijuana plants. Patients also can have up to eight ounces of processed marijuana.

While some counties and cities have ordinances that exceed the state recommendations, Shasta, Tehama and Trinity counties follow the state guidelines.

Several California cities - most in the San Francisco Bay area - have passed ordinances establishing possession limits for those with medical marijuana recommendations that exceed the state recommendations. For instance, Berkeley allows patients to have up to 10 plants and 2.5 pounds per patient. Collectives there can have up to 50 plants and 12.5 pounds total at any given time.

Redding has three medical marijuana dispensaries, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

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