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SAN LUIS COUNCIL OKS MEDICAL POT DISPENSARY

SAN LUIS, Ariz.  - Having gained the city council's approval this week, a medical marijuana dispensary could open sometime in 2016, pending the OK from the state.

Finding no legal reasons to block the venture, the San Luis City Council on Wednesday approved two conditional use permits sought by Choice Cannabis, one to operate the dispensary on Archibald Street, next to the border, and the second to cultivate marijuana in an industrial building located along Highway 95 on the city's north side.

The permit requests brought to City Hall a crowd of about 50 residents, including members of religious organizations opposing the dispensary.  In an prolonged public comment period that preceded the vote on the permits, most speakers voiced objections to dispensary, among them Jose Luis Arandilla.

"This issue is very important," he said.  "We don't want a community plagued by trash, we don't want the dispensary here.  We don't need it, and we have never needed it."

In an interview following the vote, the agent for Choice Cannabis, Curtis Devine, said the company will take steps put residents' minds at ease.

"We understand their concerns," he said.  "We will hold a community meeting to answer them.  We want them to understand what medicinal marijuana really is about.  We hope to have a dialogue with the community in the near future and respond to their questions, to educate them about how we operate and the benefits of medicinal marijuana.  And we hope to open their eyes."

He pledged that the dispensary, once established, will be active in community affairs, becoming an active sponsor in a variety of causes that benefit the city.

Devine said the opening date for the dispensary will depend on how long it takes to complete requirements for licensing from the Arizona Department of Health Services, a process he said could continue at least through the remainder of this year.

The dispensary would be the first in south Yuma County following approval by Arizona voters of a 2010 ballot initiative allowing the use of physician-prescribed marijuana for use in treating patients approved by DHS.  But the debate in San Luis over medicinal pot could soon play out again in Somerton, where Pangea Research LLC announced it is seeking a state license and city approval to open a dispensary in the Yepco industrial park on the city's west side.

Choice Cannabis, listed on Arizona Corporation Commission's website as having a Mohave Valley, Ariz., address, was granted its request for the permit for the dispensary at 708 N.  Archibald St.  on a 5-2 vote, with council members Ruben Walshe and Maria Ramos dissenting.

With Walshe dissenting again, the commission voted 6-1 to authorized a permit for a cultivation site in the former Meadowcraft factory building on Highway 95, where marijuana would be grown for the dispensary in San Luis and others in the region.

The council approved the permits with the conditions that Choice Cannabis employ full-time security guards at the locations, and that parking at the dispensary be reserved for patients and not be used by employees.

The city planning and zoning commission previously recommended denial of the permit for the dispensary not out of opposition to medicinal marijuana but because of concerns the dispensary would not have sufficient parking and that it could aggravate traffic congestion downtown.

Indeed, the council had no legal authority to prohibit the dispensary, given that Choice Cannabis had met all of the city's zoning requirements, Mayor Gerardo Sanchez told residents gathered for Wednesday's meeting.

"I, like you, am opposed to medical marijuana," he said.  "I voted against the ballot proposition, but it passed in the state.  We can't say 'no,' because it was the decision of Arizona voters.  We have to uphold the state Constitution, and this law is part of that."

Law or not, Walshe said he feared how a vote to approve a dispensary could be interpreted.

"I voted against it, because it's not the message I would want to send as an elected official.  As a person who works with children and youth of the community, I feel a commitment to them to not send that type of message," said Walshe, who teaches music in the San Luis school system.  "I am aware that it is a state law, but that does not change the negative message we are sending to our youth."

Among the few people speaking in favor of the dispensary was resident Beatriz Zousa, who said marijuana has reduced the symptoms she has suffered over the past three months as a result of encephalitis.  She said a dispensary would benefit patients in San Luis who otherwise will have to travel out of town for marijuana.

Earlier this week, Hector Crisantes, a representative of Pangea Research, presented details to Somerton city officials about the company's proposal to operate a dispensary in Somerton that not only would provide marijuana to patients but focus on research and development of "medical-grade" marijuana.

The dispensary, he said, would also include a holistic center, where residents could obtain organic foods and attend classes in yoga, physical fitness, nutrition and healthy lifestyles.

He described Pangea Research as a family-owned company involved in organic horticulture using greenhouses.