[420 Girl]

A flurry of medical marijuana decisions and reviews are unfolding in Palm Springs, Los Angeles, San Diego and other Southern California communities that could help set the stage for similar actions by local Inland cities.

Thus far, Temecula and many other cities in southwest Riverside County have opted to repeatedly extend zoning moratoriums on marijuana collectives rather than set policies that would allow some to operate in their jurisdictions.

The Palm Springs City Council last week narrowed the field of possible operators of medical marijuana collectives within its boundary to six.

In doing so, the council asked representatives of the possible collective operators to persuade the council in writing before the Dec. 16 meeting about why they should receive the permits, according to Amy Blaisdell, the city’s director of communications.

The pending Palm Springs decision will be based on quality of service, number of patients served, pricing and quality of marijuana, the ability to grow marijuana on site; explaining how they will be organized as a collective and how money receipts will be handled, Blaisdell said.

Chosen by a 4-1 vote from the field of 11 applicants were Canna Help; Caps Apothecary; PS Compassionate Care; Desert Organic Solutions; Farmacy Collectives; and Herbal Solutions.

That city’s medical cannabis ordinance, which was passed in March, allows two nonprofit collectives or cooperatives that are in compliance with state law to operate within one of the city’s three industrial zones.

Meanwhile, the first collective opened in the city of Riverside. Like other operations, the Inland Empire Health and Wellness Center Medical Marijuana Collective must operate as a nonprofit organization where people with a doctor’s recommendation will be allowed to buy marijuana from those permitted to grow it under state law.

Just across Main Street in Riverside is Advertisement
the THCF Medical Clinic, where people can seek a doctor’s recommendation for the plant that is illegal to possess without a prescription.

In Los Angeles, pot shops have cropped up by the hundreds over the past few years, while the City Council alternately stalled on regulating them or declared moratoriums on new ones. The council there continues to grapple with rules aimed at clarifying where and how marijuana can be sold.

In Los Angeles, the City Council agreed Tuesday to cap the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in its jurisdiction at 70, but several dozen others that are already operating in the city will likely be allowed to remain open for now – provided they adhere to new restrictions.

Los Angeles is expected to let 137 dispensaries that opened before the moratorium on the operations was implemented two years ago to stay open, but the council eventually wants to whittle the number down to 70.

San Diego medical marijuana dispensaries would be prohibited within 1,000 feet of schools, playgrounds, libraries and areas where children frequent under proposed regulations presented to the City Council on Tuesday.

The recommendations were made by an 11-member task force, which has met five times since it was established by the city in September amid heightened concern about the proliferation of unlicensed medical marijuana dispensaries in that city.

The Medical Marijuana Task Force also recommended that dispensaries be prohibited from locating within 500 feet of each other, hire security and obtain appropriate land-use permits. It also called for limiting the hours that medical marijuana storefronts can operate and requiring the businesses to operate as nonprofits.

San Diego council members didn’t take action on the task force’s recommendations on Tuesday. They voted to continue the hearing to Jan. 4.

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