Pubdate: Sun, 15 Jan 2012 Source: Long Beach Press-Telegram (CA) Copyright: 2012 Los Angeles Newspaper Group Contact: http://www.presstelegram.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/244 Author: Greg Mellen, Staff Writer. Phillip Zonkel, Eric Bradley and the Associated Press contributed to this report. POT DISPENSARY ADVOCATES URGE DELAY LONG BEACH - The Avalon Wellness Center sits in an industrial neighborhood on Long Beach's Westside. Surrounded by welding and industrial supply businesses, the gray block building almost disappears in the bleak backdrop, but for the green medical cross painted on the wall. Avalon may have to close its doors if the City Council on Tuesday follows a recommendation to repeal existing ordinances allowing medical marijuana dispensaries, and ban the sale and distribution of cannabis. The recommendation from City Attorney Bob Shannon comes in the wake of an Oct. 4, 2010, state Court of Appeal decision that struck down the local law allowing the sale and distribution of marijuana. The three-judge panel said the Long Beach law requires applicants to violate federal laws that prohibit the sale and distribution of marijuana. California has allowed limited use of the drug since 1996. The California Supreme Court has been asked to review the precedent-setting decision - which cities across the state are watching - and is expected to decide by Feb. 8 whether to hear the case. Carl Kemp, a lobbyist representing Long Beach collectives, says at the very least the City Council should wait until the Supreme Court says whether it will hear the case. He says the Supreme Court may render a decision that would support the Long Beach ordinance and "bring it back to life." Shannon, however, said even if the Supreme Court reviews the appeal, it will take a year to make a final decision and until then "the ban is clearly required." Kemp disagrees, saying that in deciding whether it will review the appeal, the high court has several options for the interim that could leave doors open for the ordinance while it considers the case. "To repeal and ban (collectives) before the court says anything is foolish," Kemp said. While other cities can sit on the sidelines and await the high court ruling, Shannon said Long Beach is not among them because it is the named defendant in the appellate court's ruling. "We are required to comply and be more directly involved," he said. "We don't have the ability to ignore the (appellate) ruling." After Long Beach decided to approve medical marijuana in the city, it set up a lottery for collectives and issued a limited number of permits to cultivate and distribute marijuana to patients. Hundreds or thousands of dollars in fees were charged. At the time, many advocates of the ordinance claimed it was restrictive to the point of making it virtually impossible to operate. "No other city has such onerous requirements," said Paul Violas, an attorney who represents medical marijuana advocates. One of the collectives that went through the process was Avalon. Valerie Crist, Avalon's director, said her collective spent tens of thousands of dollars to renovate the property, submit architectural and building plans and comply with and even exceed a laundry list of city requirements. Chris Cantella, the cultivation manager, said he had to "part the Red Sea" to fulfill a city requirement and install a carbon dioxide detection system. In addition to its bunker-like exterior, Avalon customers are met by a security guard and 24-hour surveillance cameras. "I wish the city would come and see us," Crist says. "If they came to see what we are about they'd change their minds." Crist says her nonprofit collective's "compassion program" has given away large amounts of medical marijuana to gravely ill and poor patients in dire need. One of those is Mimi Weil, 61, who says she's in a terminal stage of hepatitis C that went undiagnosed for nearly 40 years after a blood transfusion. She was prescribed other drugs, but they affected her motor skills, caused her to fall repeatedly and left her disoriented, she said. Two weeks ago, she began taking Phoenix Tears, a cannabis oil that proponents say can cure a multitude of maladies and help the body regenerate. Weil doesn't know if the treatment will save her, but she says doctors "have already killed me enough with their conventional medicine." She says she looks and feels like a different person since she began taking Phoenix Tears and plans to add cannabis milk to her regimen. To produce a gram a day of the distilled Phoenix Tears, Weil uses two to three pounds (between about 906 and 1360 grams) of medical marijuana a month, according to Cantella. "(Doctors) have done everything but turn me inside out," Weil said. She adds that if she is going to die, she doesn't want to do it while zonked out on morphine. "I want to go out enlightened," she says. Gregory Lefian, president of the Long Beach Collectives Association, says his group is in a tough position - deciding between the law and what he sees as legitimate medical needs of patients. "We're between a rock and a hard place," he said. "I promised my mom I wouldn't do anything illegal. But what's the moral thing to do?" Opponents of medical marijuana say patients like Mimi Weils are far outweighed by those who use the drug simply for a high. They argue medical marijuana dispensaries aren't medical at all, and that they attract crime and are thinly veiled fronts for drug dealing. "What you have is a bumper crop of 18- to 30-year-old males with medical issues they never had in the past," Shannon said. This perception has resulted in a backlash against the pot dispensaries. While California has the nation's most permissive medical marijuana laws, 185 cities and counties have banned pot dispensaries entirely. Long Beach may join the list Tuesday. The City Council in December deadlocked 4-4 on approving the ban, but continued the recommendation so that Councilman Robert Garcia, who was not at the meeting, could vote. In the past, Garcia has expressed support for medical marijuana patients. In December, council members Gary DeLong, Patrick O'Donnell, Gerrie Schipske and James Johnson voted in favor of the ban; council members Suja Lowenthal, Dee Andrews, Rae Gabelich and Steve Neal voted against the ban. If the council approves the ban, it is certain to wind up in court. "We don't want to fight," Kemp said. Violas, the lawyer, sounded less hopeful. "From the beginning the city attorney and the police have only been interested in shutting (dispensaries) down," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.