cannabisnews.com: Plans for Stockton Medical Marijuana Store on Hold





Plans for Stockton Medical Marijuana Store on Hold
Posted by CN Staff on July 15, 2004 at 19:55:06 PT
By David Siders, Record Staff Writer
Source: Stockton Record
Stockton -- An Acampo man who applied to open a medicinal marijuana store said Wednesday he would not open the store so long as a San Joaquin County deputy district attorney promises to prosecute marijuana sales. William Pearce of the Valley Patient Alliance had a deal to rent offices from a chiropractor on North California Street. He also applied for a city business license, likely the first ever for a pot dispensary in the county.
City planners this week prepared to reject his application, and district attorneys said marijuana dispensaries are illegal. Pearce said Wednesday that testing district attorneys' interpretation of state law is not worth being arrested and enduring a criminal trial. Pearce, 57, had said before that he was willing to test authorities' willingness to let Bay Arealike dispensaries provide marijuana to area patients whose doctors prescribe it as treatment for cancer, glaucoma, chronic pain and AIDS, among other ailments. Jim Glaser, director of Stockton's Community Development Department, said his initial review showed dispensaries are not permitted anywhere in the city. He said he likely would tell Pearce that later this week. He said the city should take time to discuss medical marijuana dispensaries and what should and should not be allowed here. Jay Cavanaugh, national director for the American Alliance of Medical Cannabis, said taking time could be reasonable so long as it is not a stalling tactic. Local governments throughout the state have regulated dispensaries, limiting their number and restricting their location and operating hours, but few have banned them outright. But Phil Urie, the San Joaquin County deputy district attorney who oversees medical marijuana cases in the county, has said he would prosecute marijuana sales regardless of what the city decides. He said state law does not protect dispensaries that sell marijuana. In 1996, California voters passed Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, which protects patients and their primary caregivers from prosecution. Pearce said in his application that the dispensary would provide marijuana to patients who designate the store as their primary caregiver. But the law is unclear about whether dispensaries qualify as caregivers, said professor Michael Vitiello of University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law. That means Pearce's dispensary might have ended up testing the law in court, he said To avoid that, Councilman Gary Giovanetti said he and his colleagues asked city attorneys to advise them on the lawfulness of marijuana dispensaries. "I don't want to be a test case for this," he said. Pearce, president of Galt-based Blue Mountain Roses Inc., a silk-flower business, said he decided he did not want to be, either. He could have requested an amendment to the zoning ordinance or appealed Glaser's decision to the Planning Commission and, ultimately, the City Council. According to his business license application, the dispensary would have been open seven days a week and would "encourage home delivery whenever possible so as to minimize traffic at the facility." Pearce, 57, said he and his colleagues would continue to organize in the county and that he would consider opening a dispensary if the district attorney decides to allow it. "We don't know what our next move is," he said. "It's nothing like a done thing." Pearce had said before that he expected he could be arrested and wind up in court but that local officials should adopt policies in accordance with state law. His dispensary, to be called Valley Patient Center, would have provided marijuana to patients who otherwise must grow their own or purchase it from dispensaries in the Bay Area, he said. Councilman Larry Ruhstaller said Wednesday that he remembered the application came up recently in a conversation at City Hall and that "we all just laughed about it." He said it would be interesting to watch the case unfold. "Usually those stories come out of Oakland and San Francisco," he said. Note: DA's office threatened to prosecute.Source: Record, The (CA)Author:  David Siders, Record Staff WriterPublished: Thursday, July 15, 2004 Copyright: 2004 The RecordContact: editor recordnet.comWebsite: http://www.recordnet.com/AAMChttp://www.letfreedomgrow.com/CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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