Pubdate: Mon, 14 Jun 2010
Source: Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
Copyright: 2010 The Press-Enterprise Company
Contact: http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/letters_form.html
Website: http://www.pe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/830
Author: Leslie Parrilla, The Press Enterprise
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

POT-MOBILE PARKED, FOR NOW

The medical marijuana mobile that recently rolled out of Norco and 
into unincorporated Riverside County to sell its wares illustrates 
the latest in legal entanglements between federal, state and local laws.

Stewart Hauptman said he and his 1985 Pace Arrow motor home are gone 
for good from Norco after police cited him for possessing drug 
paraphernalia and operating a dispensary. He has since moved to 
unincorporated Riverside County, where he says he feels safer because 
state law applies.

But Hauptman and his roving pot-mobile may not be driving on any more 
solid legal ground.

They are parked at the center of a conundrum created by conflicting 
federal, state and municipal laws that leave mobile collectives and a 
growing number of pot delivery operations that work like couriers in 
unfamiliar territory.

Federal drug laws prohibit the use and possession of marijuana.

State laws allow marijuana for medicinal use, sale that is not for 
profit and cultivation under legal limits. It also permits 
municipalities to regulate dispensaries.

But cities and counties across the state, including Norco and 
Riverside County, have local ordinances that ban dispensaries, 
according to city and county officials. San Bernardino County has a 
moratorium on them.

Legal experts are still arguing whether cities can ban dispensaries 
entirely through zoning laws that have kept many store-front 
businesses shuttered.

Mobile and delivery collectives are driving on uncharted roads, 
according to some experts.

Hundreds of delivery services across the state are up and running, 
dropping off marijuana to homebound people and a variety of 
locations. At least a handful of mobile units like Hauptman's are 
parking and opening shop.

Dale Gieringer, director of the National Organization for the Reform 
of Marijuana Laws in California, said it's difficult to argue that 
city zoning laws apply to mobile dispensaries or delivery services.

"They don't have a set address. It's hard to say they're violating 
zoning ordinances because it's mobile," Gieringer said.

Kris Hermes, spokesman for Americans for Safe Access said delivery 
and mobile dispensaries are legal as long as they abide by state laws.

"I would say that it's first of all, at its foundation, it naturally 
provides a service to patients with mobility issues. So it stands to 
reason that delivery services, as long as they operate according to 
state law, legally can," Hermes said.

Hermes said mobile dispensaries and delivery services are easier to 
operate and likely will continue climbing in areas less friendly to 
storefront sales.

"In communities hostile to medical marijuana, delivery services have 
formed because they're more discreet and they draw less attention. In 
a storefront facility, that is obvious to law enforcement," Hermes 
said, noting increases in delivery services in San Francisco, Orange 
County and San Diego County.

Opponents say delivery services violate state law and are attempting 
to circumvent local regulations that ban dispensaries.

Norco City Attorney John Harper said whether a dispensary is mobile 
or stationary does not make it exempt from the city ban.

"The city doesn't allow the use of medical marijuana dispensaries 
under any circumstances," Harper said. "It's a defined term, 
dispensary. It essentially talks about any entity, whatever you like 
to call it, which dispenses marijuana."

Riverside County district attorney's office spokesman John Hall 
echoed Harper's comment.

But state laws that specifically apply to mobile and delivery 
services are not yet on the books.

The number of mobile and delivery business operating in the Inland 
area is unknown but online advertisements for them are on the rise.

And businesses could increase if voters approve an initiative on the 
November ballot to legalize pot possession.

For people like Hauptman, who operated in Norco for seven months and 
has faced no resistance since moving his motor home to Riverside 
County, he believes he is operating legally under state law.

He had planned to fight Norco and Corona zoning laws but said it 
proved too costly. So he agreed to leave this month after Norco 
officials attempted to file a temporary restraining order against him 
and the nonprofit Lakeview Collective that he and his wife operated there

"I would have had to mortgage my home to fight them," Hauptman said.

Beyond the legal conflicts, Hauptman said the issues are violating 
his right to help people in pain.

"This is so wrong. I got patients that have cancer," Hauptman said. 
"People need to hear about it."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake