Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
The city will end its year-old court case against a medical marijuana collective under a legal settlement the City Council approved late Tuesday.
In exchange, Pathways Family Health Cooperative Counseling Inc. will pay the city $25,000 and will be barred from ever again opening a dispensary in Stockton.
Lynn Smith, the collective's director, declined to comment.
Pathways opened on East Acacia Street in November 2009, reviving a long-dormant city discussion over dispensary regulations, an issue that had been debated years before but abandoned.
Four months later, the city sought to close the outlet, claiming it opened under false pretenses and arguing the dispensary should not be open before the city had figured out how to regulate such businesses.
A San Joaquin County Superior Court judge in June ordered the dispensary to suspend its operations and pay $40,000 in fines. Pathways later appealed.
The city has since adopted dispensary regulations and is reviewing applications for three permits. In the meantime, Smith has opened a new dispensary under a different collective in a city pocket of unincorporated San Joaquin County.
County code enforcers issued the collective a notice to comply for operating without a business license. The collective also is in violation of the county's moratorium on marijuana dispensaries. The collective appealed to the Board of Supervisors last year but was denied.
County officials said last month they turned the matter over to the District Attorney's Office. A spokesman for the office did not return messages seeking a status of that review.
NewsHawk: Jim Behr: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Record, The (Stockton, CA)
Copyright: 2011 The Record
Contact: Recordnet.com
Website: Recordnet.com
Details: MapInc
Author: Daniel Thigpen
In exchange, Pathways Family Health Cooperative Counseling Inc. will pay the city $25,000 and will be barred from ever again opening a dispensary in Stockton.
Lynn Smith, the collective's director, declined to comment.
Pathways opened on East Acacia Street in November 2009, reviving a long-dormant city discussion over dispensary regulations, an issue that had been debated years before but abandoned.
Four months later, the city sought to close the outlet, claiming it opened under false pretenses and arguing the dispensary should not be open before the city had figured out how to regulate such businesses.
A San Joaquin County Superior Court judge in June ordered the dispensary to suspend its operations and pay $40,000 in fines. Pathways later appealed.
The city has since adopted dispensary regulations and is reviewing applications for three permits. In the meantime, Smith has opened a new dispensary under a different collective in a city pocket of unincorporated San Joaquin County.
County code enforcers issued the collective a notice to comply for operating without a business license. The collective also is in violation of the county's moratorium on marijuana dispensaries. The collective appealed to the Board of Supervisors last year but was denied.
County officials said last month they turned the matter over to the District Attorney's Office. A spokesman for the office did not return messages seeking a status of that review.
NewsHawk: Jim Behr: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Record, The (Stockton, CA)
Copyright: 2011 The Record
Contact: Recordnet.com
Website: Recordnet.com
Details: MapInc
Author: Daniel Thigpen
