WHICH CITIES WILL PROFIT

Temecula, CA – For all the people who are keeping up with the medical marijuana fight concerning collectives and dispensaries, the news coming forth today is interesting to say the least. Lanny Swedlow, a man I give a lot of cred to, whether or not I agree with his POV at times, is a man a lot like Fast Eddy in that he crosses all the dots. Being a nurse, Lanny opened his collective THC Clinic in Riverside after years of battling prejudice conservatives. For a collective to have a reported 6,000 patients and the fact that Lanny has a weekly radio show may all add to the courts moving THC’s case up in line.

But I’ll let Lanny tell it in his own words.

“On March 1, the 4th District Court of Appeals issued a Writ of Supersedeas permanently staying the injunction to close the Health and Wellness Center during the entire appeal process. The Health and Wellness Center is now protected by a court order from being closed and is one of only two collectives in the Inland Empire to receive this protection.

In its order, the 4th District Court wrote: “The issue raised in this case, now pending on appeal before this court, is whether a local public entity, such as a city, may effectively prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries within its boundaries when such dispensaries are permitted by state law and have not been shown, as a matter of evidence, to constitute a nuisance in fact.”

The Court went on to write “At this time, no published case has dealt with this issue.” This is a significant statement because it means all these cases, like Kruse vs. City of Claremont, cited ad nauseam by Best, Best and Kreiger and their sycophant* city attorneys have not decided the issue of whether cities can ban collectives under their zoning ordinances.

This is the issue that WILL BE decided in the Health and Wellness Center case by the 4th District Court of Appeals and we believe it will be decided sooner rather than later. This is because there is a tsunami of cases heading towards the court right now on this same issue. If the court issues an opinion on the Health and Wellness Center case, then all those other cases will not have to come before the court and frankly the court would rather they didn’t.

It is interesting to note that the Health and Wellness Center case leapfrogged over a number of other cases; like the ones in Lake Forest and Dana Point that had been accepted for appellate review by the 4th District Court almost a year earlier. One of the reasons put forth for the court moving ahead on the Health and Wellness Center case is that it is probably the “cleanest” case out there.

The Collective has dotted every” i” and crossed every “t” paying all taxes and fees, maintaining insurance and complying with all government regulations except Riverside’s zoning ordinance banning them. Most significantly, the collective never hid what they were doing. While most collectives just open up without any notice to anyone, the Health and Wellness Center went twice before the Riverside City Council before they opened to tell the council members that their ban was illegal and they were going to open in defiance of their ban.

All this, plus their unique farmer’s market model of medicinal marijuana distribution which is arguably the most AG Guideline compliant method of large-scale distribution, has made their case the ideal one to be heard before the 4th District Court. Although this ruling will benefit every collective in the state of California, not one collective has offered to help pitch in to defray the mounting legal costs. (Ed. Note – like the Libyan rebels, MMJ folks are disorganized as a unit and individual efforts are just that. It is hoped that at least prayers are put forth toward blessing the THC outcome as favorable.)

As many of you know, I founded this collective as means to lower the cost of medicinal marijuana to patients through good-old-fashioned market competition between the multiple vendor members at the farmer’s market. It has worked and prices are truly lower. The collective, however, is totally dependent on the purchases made by its members at the farmer’s market and at their consignment counter to cover the skyward spiraling legal costs and they are very grateful to the continuing support shown by the member patients and member vendors.

If you have never visited the Health and Wellness Center and strolled through their farmer’s market, you should take the time to do so. You have to see it to believe it – you might even have to pinch yourself a few times to make sure it’s real and not just a dream. The Health and Wellness Center is located at 647 Main St., Unit 2A in Riverside 92501. For more information, call them at 951-782-8400. Be sure and bring your original recommendation. Keep informed also with the exciting guests heard every Monday at 6 p.m. on our award winning radio show, Marijuana Compassion and Common Sense.” (All emphasis – editor; all politics* - Lanny)