Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
Inside a squat, dimly-lit building so close to Palm Springs International Airport you want to duck when a plane comes in, customers are waiting for medical marijuana.
They trickle in, one or two at a time, show their ID and doctor's recommendation at a lobby window, then sit until they're buzzed in through the security doors to where the product is kept.
This dispensary, Organic Solutions of the Desert, is one of four facilities authorized to operate in Palm Springs. Something like it could be in Riverside's future if voters approve Measure A on June 2.
Operators of Organic Solutions, which opened in 2011, say they strive to be a professional, law-abiding and high-quality facility. City leaders say the permitted dispensaries, which they call cooperatives, haven't caused problems or generated community dissent. And residents either aren't concerned about the dispensaries or don't know they exist.
"We're not drug dealers with a storefront," said Shanden Sessions, Organic Solutions of the Desert's general manager. "We're providing safe access to medication that these people truly need."
Making Rules
Riverside voters are poised to decide whether to allow up to 10 medical marijuana dispensaries to open in the city's commercial and industrial zones, and to allow mobile dispensaries. Put forward by residents and opposed by city officials, Measure A would set rules: dispensaries must have security guards and cameras, and they would have to be at least 1,000 feet from schools and other dispensaries.
Palm Springs' rules are slightly different, requiring that facilities be in industrial zones and at least 500 feet from schools, day cares, parks, churches and homes. They must be 1,000 feet from other dispensaries.
Riverside officials say their control would be limited to issuing permits. Some residents and business owners have voiced concerns about increased crime and marijuana getting into the hands of children.
Those issues don't seem to have materialized in Palm Springs, where the City Council approved rules for dispensaries in 2008.
City Councilwoman Ginny Foat said she'd worked with children and families with AIDS and had seen how medical marijuana could help.
So when residents with HIV and cancer began asking for a way to obtain medical marijuana near home, "we just decided that this was really important."
The council started by permitting two dispensaries, then three, then four, but limited where they can locate. Mobile dispensaries are prohibited, though permitted facilities can deliver.
Officials voted this month to allow dispensaries in some commercial areas and have discussed increasing the number of permits. Council members felt the rules were working and existing cooperatives were doing a good job, Palm Springs City Attorney Doug Holland said. Also, demand for the facilities warranted giving more permits, he said.
A 2013 voter-approved tax on dispensaries brings in an estimated $900,000 a year for city services. Sessions said Organic Solutions gives back to the community, citing examples such as $5,000 for senior center Christmas trees and donations to the homeless shelter and Desert Arc, which helps the developmentally disabled.
Sessions said his facility has a good relationship with the police. Holland said the biggest problem hasn't been the city-permitted dispensaries, but illegal ones.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: PALM SPRINGS: Pot dispensaries no problem for city - Press Enterprise
Author: Alicia Robinson
Contact: News Contact : Press Enterprise
Photo Credit: Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun
Website: Press Enterprise : Riverside County California News, Sports and Entertainment
They trickle in, one or two at a time, show their ID and doctor's recommendation at a lobby window, then sit until they're buzzed in through the security doors to where the product is kept.
This dispensary, Organic Solutions of the Desert, is one of four facilities authorized to operate in Palm Springs. Something like it could be in Riverside's future if voters approve Measure A on June 2.
Operators of Organic Solutions, which opened in 2011, say they strive to be a professional, law-abiding and high-quality facility. City leaders say the permitted dispensaries, which they call cooperatives, haven't caused problems or generated community dissent. And residents either aren't concerned about the dispensaries or don't know they exist.
"We're not drug dealers with a storefront," said Shanden Sessions, Organic Solutions of the Desert's general manager. "We're providing safe access to medication that these people truly need."
Making Rules
Riverside voters are poised to decide whether to allow up to 10 medical marijuana dispensaries to open in the city's commercial and industrial zones, and to allow mobile dispensaries. Put forward by residents and opposed by city officials, Measure A would set rules: dispensaries must have security guards and cameras, and they would have to be at least 1,000 feet from schools and other dispensaries.
Palm Springs' rules are slightly different, requiring that facilities be in industrial zones and at least 500 feet from schools, day cares, parks, churches and homes. They must be 1,000 feet from other dispensaries.
Riverside officials say their control would be limited to issuing permits. Some residents and business owners have voiced concerns about increased crime and marijuana getting into the hands of children.
Those issues don't seem to have materialized in Palm Springs, where the City Council approved rules for dispensaries in 2008.
City Councilwoman Ginny Foat said she'd worked with children and families with AIDS and had seen how medical marijuana could help.
So when residents with HIV and cancer began asking for a way to obtain medical marijuana near home, "we just decided that this was really important."
The council started by permitting two dispensaries, then three, then four, but limited where they can locate. Mobile dispensaries are prohibited, though permitted facilities can deliver.
Officials voted this month to allow dispensaries in some commercial areas and have discussed increasing the number of permits. Council members felt the rules were working and existing cooperatives were doing a good job, Palm Springs City Attorney Doug Holland said. Also, demand for the facilities warranted giving more permits, he said.
A 2013 voter-approved tax on dispensaries brings in an estimated $900,000 a year for city services. Sessions said Organic Solutions gives back to the community, citing examples such as $5,000 for senior center Christmas trees and donations to the homeless shelter and Desert Arc, which helps the developmentally disabled.
Sessions said his facility has a good relationship with the police. Holland said the biggest problem hasn't been the city-permitted dispensaries, but illegal ones.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: PALM SPRINGS: Pot dispensaries no problem for city - Press Enterprise
Author: Alicia Robinson
Contact: News Contact : Press Enterprise
Photo Credit: Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun
Website: Press Enterprise : Riverside County California News, Sports and Entertainment
