[420 Girl]

STOCKTON, California - The City Council said Friday it will consider letting dispensaries sell medical marijuana, with senior staff suggesting Stockton can regulate, not prohibit, the drug's sale.

"You can't forbid it," interim City Manager Kevin O'Rourke said.

The council is to consider a draft ordinance at a special study session this month or next. The outcome is uncertain.

"We need to look at it," Vice Mayor Kathy Miller said. "I'm going to wait until I get a little more educated."

The council's consideration of medical marijuana - a subject it last considered, and largely abandoned, in 2005 - comes after the November opening of Pathways Family Health Cooperative Counseling, which sells medical marijuana on East Acacia Street.

Pathways said in its application for a business license that it was a "natural food and supplement store." The city called that a misrepresentation and rescinded the license in December. This month, Pathways appealed.

City Attorney Ren Nosky said the two sides are to discuss the case before Pathways' appeal is heard.

In California, Proposition 215 protects patients and caregivers from prosecution. Federal law prohibits the possession of marijuana, but recently relaxed guidelines have instructed federal prosecutors to avoid prosecution when dispensaries comply with state law.

Some cities in California allow and regulate dispensaries, and O'Rourke said there is legal standing for Stockton to do the same.

The subject came up briefly Friday, on the second day of the council's annual retreat.

During the retreat, at Arnold Rue Community Center in north Stockton, council members told senior staff that a spirit of customer service was sometimes lacking at City Hall. Council members told department directors to trust them, and vice versa. Some staff and council members said they never before had talked so openly with each other and that they felt after the retreat that they were more of a team.

Mayor Ann Johnston said, "This is just the beginning of something great."

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