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MEDICAL MARIJUANA GROUP WANTS DISPENSARY IN HESPERIA'S INDUSTRIAL AREA

HESPERIA - Members of a medical marijuana patients group are hoping to open a medical marijuana collective in Hesperia's industrial area.

The group already has scouted several locations whose landlords have expressed interest, said Kevin Sutman, spokesman for the West Coast Patients Group.

Group members are working on the framework of a proposed city ordinance, which they hope will go before the Hesperia Planning Commission next month.  If the commission gives the draft ordinance the green light, the medical marijuana ordinance would go before the City Council.

But there's one major hurdle -- Hesperia, like numerous other cities in California, has an ordinance prohibiting medical marijuana dispensaries.  So Sutman's group is banking on a current legal case known as the "Anaheim case" to pave the way for a dispensary.  At the center of the case is a group of medical marijuana patients who sued the city of Anaheim for preventing them from setting up a dispensary.

However that case may go back to trial courts, which would delay an ultimate decision for many months.

Sutman is hoping for a quick resolution on the side of medical marijuana patients.  That would force cities who have ordinances against dispensaries to reevaluate their stances, he said.