Pubdate: Fri, 13 Jan 2012
Source: Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
Copyright: 2012 The Press-Enterprise Company
Contact: http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/letters_form.html
Website: http://www.pe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/830
Author: John F. Hill

ANOTHER MARIJUANA SHOP CHALLENGES CITY'S BAN

A second medical marijuana storefront has opened in Murrieta, despite 
a citywide ban.

Greenhouse Cannabis Club opened earlier this month in a business park 
on Jefferson Avenue. Since then, it's been hit with thousands of 
dollars in fines and several code violations every day.

Owner Eric McNeil, 34, said he wasn't looking to fight Murrieta's ban 
on dispensaries. Most of his collective's 3,000 members are in 
Murrieta, and when he found a willing landlord, he jumped at the chance.

He has regrets about his decision to open and he's losing sleep -- 
nearly $10,000 and counting in fines will do that. But McNeil said he 
now plans to fight the city's ban in court as long as it takes.

"Our members are really asking us to put the fight up," McNeil said.

Increasingly, local governments are moving to limit or expel 
marijuana dispensaries through their land use powers, despite 
California's law allowing the drug.

Federal prosecutors recently stepped up an effort to close marijuana 
shops, threatening landlords who rent to dispensaries with legal 
trouble. Marijuana is still illegal under federal law.

Murrieta has been among the local governments aggressively battling 
to keep marijuana shops out of the city. The storefronts -- which the 
city calls dispensaries, though owners say they are nonprofit 
collectives -- give out marijuana to members with cards from a doctor 
in exchange for a fee for growing the plants and overhead.

The city's first marijuana storefront opened in July, in a similar 
park on the other side of Jefferson. The Cooperative Medical Group is 
now closed by court order, after going several legal rounds with the 
city's attorneys. The parties are still in court, awaiting a final decision.

Murrieta police Capt. Dennis Vrooman said the city learned about the 
shop on Sunday, when it visited and asked McNeil to voluntarily close.

McNeil said he did, for a few days, until his attorney said he was 
within his rights because he was running a club, not a business.

Since then, building and code inspectors and police officers have 
come by daily. McNeil has been earning $2,000 a day in fines for 
violations, including running a business without a permit, adding 
walls without a permit and disturbing the peace.

The final daily citation is for graffiti, for sticking the foot-tall 
letters "GHCC" on the shop's front window.

On Monday, police pulled over a half-dozen patients leaving the shop.

Vrooman said police only pull over drivers if they notice traffic 
violations or marijuana being consumed in the car. No one has been 
seen using the drug outside of Greenhouse Cannabis Club, he said.

Murrieta sought a court injunction against the first dispensary. 
Vrooman said Murrieta would likely follow a similar path against the new one.

McNeil said the city should regulate marijuana clubs, rather than 
wasting money fighting them in court.

"If it's now our club there's always going to be another club," he 
said. "It will be more cost effective to regulate than to fight it."
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