Pubdate: Tue, 15 May 2012
Source: Daily Press (Victorville, CA)
Copyright: 2012 Freedom Communications, Inc.
Contact: http://www.vvdailypress.com/sections/contactus/
Website: http://www.vvdailypress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1061
Author: Beau Yarbrough

Hesperia:

DISPENSARY, LANDLORD FACE $1,500 DAILY IN FINES

HESPERIA  With a new medical marijuana dispensary in town, Hesperia 
officials are touting a tough policy that could hit both the 
dispensary and its landlord with fines that can reach $1,500 a day 
after a 24-day warning period.

"It is an unacceptable use within the city of Hesperia," city 
spokeswoman Kelly Malloy said. "While we can't allow something that 
the state of California prohibits, we have the authority to ban 
something that's (allowed)."

"They don't have any grounds," argued A.J. Shaw, CEO of the new High 
Desert Compassionate Collective at the intersections of Danbury and I 
Avenues. "We didn't come here in disguise."

Shaw believes the law is on his side. On Feb. 29, the state's 4th 
District Court of Appeal ruled that cities cannot ban medical 
marijuana dispensaries for being nuisances, after Lake Forest tried 
to kick the Evergreen Holistic Collective out of town. But the 
decision contradicts other rulings, including another from the 4th 
District Court of Appeal that upheld Riverside's ability to ban 
dispensaries in that city.

Shaw has told his neighbors that the collective won't bring more 
crime to the area, citing the fact that several businesses in the 
area have previously been robbed. The collective also erected 17 
metal barriers outside, similar to the ones used by gas stations and 
fast food outlets to prevent motorists from knocking down gas pumps 
or knocking down walls.

Hesperia officials aren't deterred by the Lake Forest decision, 
crediting the city's tough stance with lowering the number of 
marijuana dispensaries from 19 in December 2010 to three in May 2012.

"The city believes that the law allows cities to regulate and 
prohibit medical marijuana facilities," Malloy said.

The matter isn't likely to be decided until the state supreme court 
takes up one or more of the cases, which may happen in 2013. And even 
then, any decisions may to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom