California - As many as 9 dispensaries are open in Costa Mesa, despite a citywide ban. Many are licensed as alternative health and nutrition businesses.
A message scribbled in red Magic Marker on a paper bag wedged into the battered white door at Orange County Collective Service instructs visitors to “say hello” for service.
Tucked in a pothole-riddled alleyway in a rundown Westside shopping center, the collective is one of a growing number of medical marijuana dispensaries and clubs that have opened recently in Costa Mesa.
The door opens onto a small foyer adorned with a multicolored Bob Marley tapestry. Inside, a pungent smell of marijuana wafts from behind a second, heavier door. A large white-and-blue sign above the entryway proclaims “members only.”
“I don’t have marijuana here. I have medicine,” said John “Dreaming Hawk” Barona, a manager at Orange County Collective Services. “There are terminally ill people who can’t function without this stuff. There is a need for this to be here.”
The collective, which has been open for two or three months, already has about 100 members, he said.
Barona insists that although Costa Mesa has an ordinance prohibiting marijuana dispensaries, everything at the collective is on the up and up.
“I had an attorney set everything up,” he said. “The cops know we’re here.”
Clients pay a suggested donation for medical marijuana that is “donated” by other members of the collective, Barona said.
“We’re not a dispensary. Dispensaries are like liquor stores — anybody can come in — but we’re a private club,” Barona said. “We’re more like Costco.”
Anywhere from seven to nine medical marijuana dispensaries and collectives are open for business in Costa Mesa, according to Costa Mesa police, who acknowledge that all are operating in violation of a city ordinance that bans establishments that distribute cannabis.
Many of the dispensaries and collectives have obtained business licenses from the city of Costa Mesa to operate as alternative health and nutrition businesses, the Daily Pilot has learned.
Medical marijuana has been decriminalized in California since voters passed Prop. 215 in 1996, but the Costa Mesa City Council passed an ordinance in July 2005 that bars marijuana dispensaries from setting up shop.
Under the Obama Administration, the federal government has relaxed its stance on enforcing federal drug laws in California and the 13 other states that allow medical marijuana, effectively leaving Costa Mesa and other cities with anti-dispensary ordinances on their own.
BUNK BUSINESS LICENSES
Situated in an aging, powder-blue painted office park on West 19th Street, which appears to be a converted motel, Bulzi RX Cooperative has been open for about four months.
Only members with a doctor’s referral can enter the dispensary, which lies beyond a heavy wood door at one end of the room. A few members of the cooperative shuffle in and out: a middle-aged woman with a mountain bike, a man in his 20s wearing baggy pants.
The dispensary has been open a few months, but already has about 400 clients, a volunteer at the dispensary who did not want to be identified said Wednesday. Directors for Bulzi declined to speak with Daily Pilot reporters on Tuesday and did not return a phone call on Friday.
Bulzi has a business license from the city to offer alternative nutrition and health services, but not to distribute marijuana, according to city staff.
“There’s no zoning for dispensaries, so they have business licenses under false pretense,” said Melinda Shank, a permit-processing specialist for the city of Costa Mesa.
MedMar Patient Care Collective sits on the second floor of a brown stucco building on Fair Drive. The building’s only other occupants appear to be two massage parlors and an Internet cafe. A woman in surgical scrubs greets visitors to MedMar from behind a glass window. The smell of marijuana lingers from behind a tinfoil-covered door on one side of the waiting room.
MedMar has a special on pre-rolled joints — they’re going for $7 each — and also sells “Pineapple Kush Shake” for $80 an ounce, which is “great for baking,” its website proclaims.
The owners of MedMar did not respond to a message left at its Costa Mesa office on Wednesday, or return a phone call on Friday.
MedMar has a business license from the city for pain management and treatment consulting, physical therapy and acupuncture, according to city staff.
Nutritional Concepts Pain Releaf Center, a dispensary located in a medical building across the street from a car wash on Bristol Street, has a license for consultation and nutritional products, according to city staff.
“Marijuana is an herbal product — we’re nutritional consultants, and that’s what our business license says. We follow state law to a T,” said one of the owners of Nutritional Concepts, who would identify herself only as “Joyce.”
Orange County Collective Services has a business license to answer phones for an appliance repair business.
Businesses have to sign a form stating they are aware that Costa Mesa has a ban on marijuana dispensaries, and that they won’t sell or distribute marijuana, but there’s nothing in place to hold them to their word, Shank said.
“Basically, that’s all we can do at this point,” she said.
City staff on Friday declined to release copies of dispensary business license applications, because they contained personal information about the business operators.
Costa Mesa Police Chief Chris Shawkey said he’s aware of anywhere from seven to nine marijuana dispensaries in Costa Mesa.
“There’s nothing to stop a place that says it’s a vitamin shop from opening up,” Shawkey said. “When people apply for a business license, there’s really not a background process that goes on.”
A WEEDY LEGAL ISSUE
The Compassionate Use Act of 1996, which legalized the cultivation, selling or usage of medical marijuana for those suffering from chronic pain, cancer and other serious ailments in California, flew in the face of federal law.
The Bush Administration prosecuted pot dispensaries in California and other states that legalized marijuana for medical purposes. In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld federal officials’ rights to prosecute marijuana sellers.
The law has not changed under the Obama Administration, but the approach has. Last March, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder took a hands-off approach when he announced that federal prosecutors would no longer go after marijuana dispensers.
The federal government decided to redirect its efforts and authority to fight bigger crimes, such as preventing air plane crashes, nuclear attacks and other egregious offenders, who are violating both state and federal laws, said Roger Jon Diamond, a Santa Monica criminal defense and civil rights attorney.
Now that the federal government will not spend its resources on prosecuting marijuana sellers, cities are left to fend for themselves. Holder’s announcement partly explains the recent proliferation of marijuana dispensaries in California cities, Diamond said.
Diamond does not think cities should prosecute pot dispensaries.
“The city of Costa Mesa should be dealing with more important things, such as local public corruption and not worry about whether someone with cancer is smoking a cigarette to get pain relief,” he said.
ORDINANCE UP IN SMOKE?
In 2005, to “promote health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the residents and businesses within the city,” Costa Mesa adopted an ordinance banning medical marijuana dispensaries.
Costa Mesa backed up its ordinance with the Controlled Substances Act, a federal law prohibiting the distribution of marijuana.
City officials say they are aware of the marijuana dispensaries in Costa Mesa and they are weighing their options on how to tackle the issue.
“We are working on going forward with enforcing the city’s code,” said Mayor Allan Mansoor. “I believe that is the right course of action because of the negative perception and the crimes associated with them.”
Cities throughout the state are facing the same issue, given that the position of the state and federal government on the distribution of marijuana are conflicting, said Costa Mesa City Manager Allan Roeder.
Costa Mesa has more than one course of action to take against the various dispensaries, said City Atty. Kimberly Hall Barlow. Costa Mesa could issue citations, file criminal charges using a city prosecutor, or sue.
Barlow would not provide details on which course of action the city is preparing to take, saying she doesn’t want to let the dispensaries in on their plan. But she said the city will act in the next two weeks.
Part of the city’s predicament is that some of these dispensaries are doing both lawful and unlawful business, Barlow said.
“It’s my understanding that at least one of the businesses does sell things other than marijuana,” she said. “We’re gathering data about the businesses and making a determination about how we’re going to proceed.”
News Hawk- Weedpipe 420 Magazine - Cannabis Culture News & Reviews
Source: Daily Pilot
Author: Brianna Bailey and Mona Shadia
Contact: Daily Pilot - Serving Newport Beach & Costa Mesa, California
Copyright: 2010 Daily Pilot
Website:Daily Pilot - Serving Newport Beach & Costa Mesa, California
A message scribbled in red Magic Marker on a paper bag wedged into the battered white door at Orange County Collective Service instructs visitors to “say hello” for service.
Tucked in a pothole-riddled alleyway in a rundown Westside shopping center, the collective is one of a growing number of medical marijuana dispensaries and clubs that have opened recently in Costa Mesa.
The door opens onto a small foyer adorned with a multicolored Bob Marley tapestry. Inside, a pungent smell of marijuana wafts from behind a second, heavier door. A large white-and-blue sign above the entryway proclaims “members only.”
“I don’t have marijuana here. I have medicine,” said John “Dreaming Hawk” Barona, a manager at Orange County Collective Services. “There are terminally ill people who can’t function without this stuff. There is a need for this to be here.”
The collective, which has been open for two or three months, already has about 100 members, he said.
Barona insists that although Costa Mesa has an ordinance prohibiting marijuana dispensaries, everything at the collective is on the up and up.
“I had an attorney set everything up,” he said. “The cops know we’re here.”
Clients pay a suggested donation for medical marijuana that is “donated” by other members of the collective, Barona said.
“We’re not a dispensary. Dispensaries are like liquor stores — anybody can come in — but we’re a private club,” Barona said. “We’re more like Costco.”
Anywhere from seven to nine medical marijuana dispensaries and collectives are open for business in Costa Mesa, according to Costa Mesa police, who acknowledge that all are operating in violation of a city ordinance that bans establishments that distribute cannabis.
Many of the dispensaries and collectives have obtained business licenses from the city of Costa Mesa to operate as alternative health and nutrition businesses, the Daily Pilot has learned.
Medical marijuana has been decriminalized in California since voters passed Prop. 215 in 1996, but the Costa Mesa City Council passed an ordinance in July 2005 that bars marijuana dispensaries from setting up shop.
Under the Obama Administration, the federal government has relaxed its stance on enforcing federal drug laws in California and the 13 other states that allow medical marijuana, effectively leaving Costa Mesa and other cities with anti-dispensary ordinances on their own.
BUNK BUSINESS LICENSES
Situated in an aging, powder-blue painted office park on West 19th Street, which appears to be a converted motel, Bulzi RX Cooperative has been open for about four months.
Only members with a doctor’s referral can enter the dispensary, which lies beyond a heavy wood door at one end of the room. A few members of the cooperative shuffle in and out: a middle-aged woman with a mountain bike, a man in his 20s wearing baggy pants.
The dispensary has been open a few months, but already has about 400 clients, a volunteer at the dispensary who did not want to be identified said Wednesday. Directors for Bulzi declined to speak with Daily Pilot reporters on Tuesday and did not return a phone call on Friday.
Bulzi has a business license from the city to offer alternative nutrition and health services, but not to distribute marijuana, according to city staff.
“There’s no zoning for dispensaries, so they have business licenses under false pretense,” said Melinda Shank, a permit-processing specialist for the city of Costa Mesa.
MedMar Patient Care Collective sits on the second floor of a brown stucco building on Fair Drive. The building’s only other occupants appear to be two massage parlors and an Internet cafe. A woman in surgical scrubs greets visitors to MedMar from behind a glass window. The smell of marijuana lingers from behind a tinfoil-covered door on one side of the waiting room.
MedMar has a special on pre-rolled joints — they’re going for $7 each — and also sells “Pineapple Kush Shake” for $80 an ounce, which is “great for baking,” its website proclaims.
The owners of MedMar did not respond to a message left at its Costa Mesa office on Wednesday, or return a phone call on Friday.
MedMar has a business license from the city for pain management and treatment consulting, physical therapy and acupuncture, according to city staff.
Nutritional Concepts Pain Releaf Center, a dispensary located in a medical building across the street from a car wash on Bristol Street, has a license for consultation and nutritional products, according to city staff.
“Marijuana is an herbal product — we’re nutritional consultants, and that’s what our business license says. We follow state law to a T,” said one of the owners of Nutritional Concepts, who would identify herself only as “Joyce.”
Orange County Collective Services has a business license to answer phones for an appliance repair business.
Businesses have to sign a form stating they are aware that Costa Mesa has a ban on marijuana dispensaries, and that they won’t sell or distribute marijuana, but there’s nothing in place to hold them to their word, Shank said.
“Basically, that’s all we can do at this point,” she said.
City staff on Friday declined to release copies of dispensary business license applications, because they contained personal information about the business operators.
Costa Mesa Police Chief Chris Shawkey said he’s aware of anywhere from seven to nine marijuana dispensaries in Costa Mesa.
“There’s nothing to stop a place that says it’s a vitamin shop from opening up,” Shawkey said. “When people apply for a business license, there’s really not a background process that goes on.”
A WEEDY LEGAL ISSUE
The Compassionate Use Act of 1996, which legalized the cultivation, selling or usage of medical marijuana for those suffering from chronic pain, cancer and other serious ailments in California, flew in the face of federal law.
The Bush Administration prosecuted pot dispensaries in California and other states that legalized marijuana for medical purposes. In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld federal officials’ rights to prosecute marijuana sellers.
The law has not changed under the Obama Administration, but the approach has. Last March, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder took a hands-off approach when he announced that federal prosecutors would no longer go after marijuana dispensers.
The federal government decided to redirect its efforts and authority to fight bigger crimes, such as preventing air plane crashes, nuclear attacks and other egregious offenders, who are violating both state and federal laws, said Roger Jon Diamond, a Santa Monica criminal defense and civil rights attorney.
Now that the federal government will not spend its resources on prosecuting marijuana sellers, cities are left to fend for themselves. Holder’s announcement partly explains the recent proliferation of marijuana dispensaries in California cities, Diamond said.
Diamond does not think cities should prosecute pot dispensaries.
“The city of Costa Mesa should be dealing with more important things, such as local public corruption and not worry about whether someone with cancer is smoking a cigarette to get pain relief,” he said.
ORDINANCE UP IN SMOKE?
In 2005, to “promote health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the residents and businesses within the city,” Costa Mesa adopted an ordinance banning medical marijuana dispensaries.
Costa Mesa backed up its ordinance with the Controlled Substances Act, a federal law prohibiting the distribution of marijuana.
City officials say they are aware of the marijuana dispensaries in Costa Mesa and they are weighing their options on how to tackle the issue.
“We are working on going forward with enforcing the city’s code,” said Mayor Allan Mansoor. “I believe that is the right course of action because of the negative perception and the crimes associated with them.”
Cities throughout the state are facing the same issue, given that the position of the state and federal government on the distribution of marijuana are conflicting, said Costa Mesa City Manager Allan Roeder.
Costa Mesa has more than one course of action to take against the various dispensaries, said City Atty. Kimberly Hall Barlow. Costa Mesa could issue citations, file criminal charges using a city prosecutor, or sue.
Barlow would not provide details on which course of action the city is preparing to take, saying she doesn’t want to let the dispensaries in on their plan. But she said the city will act in the next two weeks.
Part of the city’s predicament is that some of these dispensaries are doing both lawful and unlawful business, Barlow said.
“It’s my understanding that at least one of the businesses does sell things other than marijuana,” she said. “We’re gathering data about the businesses and making a determination about how we’re going to proceed.”
News Hawk- Weedpipe 420 Magazine - Cannabis Culture News & Reviews
Source: Daily Pilot
Author: Brianna Bailey and Mona Shadia
Contact: Daily Pilot - Serving Newport Beach & Costa Mesa, California
Copyright: 2010 Daily Pilot
Website:Daily Pilot - Serving Newport Beach & Costa Mesa, California
