OCEANSIDE — The last of half-a-dozen medical marijuana dispensaries in Oceanside shut its doors Oct. 3.
North County Collective, on South Coast Highway, has closed for good after fighting to stay open since July.
After three court battles with the city over business licensing, the legal fees, which reached up to $20,000, the costs became too much to absorb, said North County Collective owner John Scandalios.
The next step would have been to go back to court Oct. 18 and pay $2,500 a day for sanctions from September to present. “It didn’t make sense anymore to continue,” Scandalios said.
Over 1,000 medical marijuana patients who used North County Collective were notified of the closure by Internet, email and a recorded phone message.
The next question is, where will the patients go? The answer may be right down the street. After North County Collective closed, another dispensary is said to have opened a few doors down.
Scandalios said dispensaries are not going to go away. Medical use of marijuana is legal in California with a doctor’s recommendation.
Dispensary owners are asking for business regulations to guide their operations. “The city, for whatever reason, wants no part of this,” Scandalios said. “Instead of regulating it, they want it banned.”
Others feel dispensaries will continue to be shut down. In addition to shutting down North County Collective, the city has closed Green Ocean Collective on El Camino Real, Abaca Medical Collective on South Coast Highway and CKS on Oceanside Boulevard.
Since the city moratorium against marijuana dispensaries expired, dispensaries have opened, but the city has taken them to court and won. Dispensaries are not a permitted business use in the city zoning code.
“If you operate as a dispensary, you face legal consequences,” City Attorney John Mullen said. “Storefronts are going to get sued.”
California Senate Bill 420 clarified California Proposition 215 and established the California medical marijuana program. The bill requires counties to implement a voluntary patient identification card system and protects patients and their caregivers from arrest for marijuana cultivation and patient use.
Mullen said these state laws do not allow someone to open a “pot shop” that patients go to once a month.
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Of course, what PotShopScan fails to mention with his "a truly serious ill individual can still use pot" comment is that they will have to go on the streets looking for it.
But hey, at least we won’t be able to collect taxes on it anymore. We can just have gang members do that.
Oceanside will be a better place without these illegal shops selling pot to perfectly healthy young people who just want to get stoned. A true care giver and truly serious ill individual can still use pot, you just can’t have a storefront selling it. Read the law, it’s clear, but the pro-pot lobby likes to muddy it up. Pot shops are a total sham, thanks to those who stood up and said enough is enough obey the law.
Excellent work Oceanside, game over for the pot-as-medicine scam. Reading and understanding state law illustrates how marijuana dispensaries are illegal. A quick side note, federal law clearly states that any cultivation, distribution, possession or use of marijuana violates federal law – even for medical purposes. Nowhere in Proposition 215 or SB 420 does it mention storefront marijuana dispensaries. Additionally, the State Attorney General Medical Marijuana Guidelines state, “Although marijuana dispensaries have been operating in California for years, dispensaries, as such, are not recognized under the law.” Using the State Attorney General Medical Marijuana Guidelines it shows how the operations of marijuana dispensaries are violating state laws:
• First, the guidelines say “…democratically controlled and are not organized to make a profit for themselves, but dispensary customers who walk in do not have a say on how the dispensary is operated and the selling of marijuana in commercial retail settings financially benefit the owners/operators of the dispensary.
• Second, the guidelines say “The earnings and savings of the business must be used for the general welfare of its members for equal distribution to members in the form of cash, property, credits for services.”, but dispensaries do not distribute cash to the members who are not employees/owners.
• Third, the guidelines say, “…should be a closed-network of marijuana cultivation and consumption with no purchase or sales to or from non-members.”, although any qualified patient can walk into a dispensary, become a member by filing out forms and buy marijuana.
• Fourth, the guidelines say “Collectives Should Acquire, Possess, and Distribute Only Lawfully Cultivated Marijuana.”, but dispensaries don’t supply authorities with information on where or how the marijuana is grown.
• Fifth, the guidelines say primary caregiver must have “…assumed responsibility for the housing, health and safety of the patient.”, but dispensary operators/owners serving as the ‘primary caregivers’ obviously aren’t also responsible for the housing, health, and safety of all their customers.
In addition it’s quite telling to hear from Reverend Scott T. Imler, co-author of Proposition 215, who has expressed his concerns with the runway abuse occurring. He said, “We created Prop. 215 so patients would not have to deal with the black market profiteers. But today it is all about the money. Most of the dispensaries operating in California are a little more than dope dealers with store fronts.” – Alternatives Magazine, Fall 2006, issue 39. Reverend Scott T. Imler also said, “When we wrote Proposition 215, we were selling it to the public as something for seriously ill people… It’s turned into a joke. I think a lot of people have medicalized their recreational use.”- San Gabriel Valley Tribune, February 15, 2007.
State law allows patients and primary caregivers to associate together in order to collectively or cooperatively cultivate marijuana for medical purposes, the law doesn’t create an argument for a commercial enterprise. The law is the law and it must be upheld.
Oh good, now the gangs will have the marijuana market monopoly. That will help Oceanside. Oh wait…
It seems quite clear that Oceanside government officials place no value on democracy. The California voters made it perfectly clear how "the majority" of Californians feel about this topic. What is the sense in voting if government or city officials can still do whatever they want regardless of "the majority". Is this what democracy is all about? If you don’t agree with the results at the polls regarding this issue, then you can demand a recount, resign your position or get with the program and serve the wishes of the majority. Wasting time and valueable resources defying what has already been voted on…and passed… is selfish and not the example we should be setting for future generations or the rest of the world. Either drive in the direction as specified by the poll results or get off the bus.
Please! Hurry & click & sign petition http://wh.gov/gP1 to END MARIJUANA PROHIBITION at White House now! deadline Oct. 22
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