Pubdate: Sat, 05 Dec 2015
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.

SENDING A MESSAGE TO ROGUE POT SHOPS

Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor's ruling socking SoCal Holistic 
Health Inc. and company President Ryan Murphy with a $1.835 million 
penalty for illegally operating a medical marijuana dispensary in 
Pacific Beach should send a clear message that San Diego's Wild West 
days - in which hundreds of medical pot shops sprang up around the 
city - are over.

The ruling came nearly a year after the office of City Attorney Jan 
Goldsmith first targeted SoCal Holistic Health. Despite being ordered 
to close in February, the dispensary remained open. The fine is by 
far the largest assessed against anyone involved in the local medical 
marijuana industry.

Advocates for the industry say that rogue operations should be 
condoned because of the city's slowness to establish rules for 
medical pot. But that argument no longer holds. The City Council last 
year set up a framework under which up to 36 medical marijuana 
dispensaries could operate in industrial and commercial zones, and 
city officials have been processing applications for lawful shops ever since.

Goldsmith's reaction to Taylor's ruling is spot-on: "Every business 
has to comply with zoning laws. You can't open a dog kennel or a dry 
cleaner anywhere you like, and neither can you open a marijuana 
dispensary in neighborhoods where city zoning laws forbid them."

The city attorney says he will continue to aggressively target rogue 
pot shop owners who don't accept this reality. Good.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom