Pubdate: Wed, 02 May 2012
Source: Novato Advance (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Novato Advance
Contact:  http://marinscope.com/novato_advance/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5335
Author: Nicole Baptista
Note: Jessica Mullins contributed to this report.

NOVATO MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES UNDER ATTACK

Green Door Wellness Center Ignores Feds; Stays Open

The Green Door Wellness Center's doors will remain open until federal
prosecutors directly order the Novato medical marijuana dispensary to
shut down as its neighbor the Green Tiger Collective did April 24.

Federal prosecutors filed actions April 23 to seize the properties,
both located on Redwood Boulevard, threatening prosecution for
violating federal law against marijuana distribution. Green Door
Wellness Center Director Lawrence Pebbles has fought to keep the
dispensary open since 2010.

The dispensary received a cease-and-desist order last November from
the building's landlord, David Cesena.

"We won the trial," said Jeffrey Muth, Pebbles' attorney.

After settling the legal dispute City Attorney Jeffrey Walter asked
Pebbles to send the city a proposal to continue operating, said Muth.

"The city attorney contacted us and said the city had decided to let
[Pebbles] stay under certain conditions," Muth said. "He was going to
draft the agreement and send it to us."

Communication between Green Door and the city subsequently
stopped.

"After that the city attorney never responded to any of our calls or
e-mails," Muth said.

Pebbles opened the dispensary in April 2010 in hopes of making
alternative medicine more accessible.

"Lawrence is really concerned about the patients that the dispensary
serves and what they'll have to do if it's shut down," Muth said. "He
doesn't want them to have to buy it off the street. Lawrence is the
only thing keeping it open - at his personal risk."

Pebbles' establishment sits next door to the Green Tiger Collective,
another dispensary. In September, Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB1300,
which allowed city governments to regulate local dispensaries. In
November the Novato City Council extended a moratorium limiting new
dispensaries.

Many residents spoke at a Jan. 10 Novato City Council meeting in
support of Green Door.

"I have restless leg syndrome and arthritis," resident Larry
Rothschild said. "My alternative was opiates."

Rothschild expressed a fear of having to go to dangerous neighborhoods
to get marijuana if the dispensary closed.

"It's about whether we want to stop safe access," Pebbles said at the
meeting.

"My client decided not to shut down as soon as the Green Tiger did,"
Muth said. "He's more adamant about his future. I know that some
dispensaries have been prosecuted, but commonly they are already
violating state law, like being too close to a school."

The federal government's crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries
began in October and was led by four regional U.S. attorneys in
California. The prosecutors said they planned to target large-scale
commercial enterprises that operate under the guise of providing
medical marijuana.

California's Compassionate Use Act, approved by state voters in 1996,
allows seriously ill patients to use marijuana with a doctor's
permission, but federal laws criminalizing the drug make no exception
for state medical marijuana laws.

Joseph Henderson, vice president of public affairs with the Friends of
Marin Holistic Solutions, a Corte Madera cannabis club, is an advocate
for strict dispensary guidelines, as opposed to simply banning
dispensaries. "There should be very clear and enforceable regulations.
If someone deviates from that, game over," he said.

Henderson has seen more business after the 2011 closures of the
long-standing Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Fairfax, a
Kentfield dispensary, the Marin Wellness Center, two Sausalito medical
marijuana dispensaries and the San Rafael dispensary Tree of Life .

- - Jessica Mullins contributed to this report. 
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