For the first time in Palm Springs history, local medical marijuana patients can freely access a dispensary licensed under a city ordinance.
The long-awaited CannaHelp dispensary, one of two allowed under a Palm Springs medical cannabis ordinance, officially opened its doors Wednesday – registering patients and distributing medical marijuana.
The dispensary's opening has been a long time coming for CannaHelp owner Stacy Hochanadel.
"It's a profound day," he said. "We finally got there.
CannaHelp is not Palm Springs' first dispensary. A handful of others have opened outside of the ordinance and the city says they're illegal.
By the most recent count, four dispensaries are operating. An attorney for two of those says state law allows them to operate. The city is suing the dispensaries to close.
CannaHelp's opening wasn't the only Palm Springs medical pot-related move Wednesday. The Planning Commission voted 6-0-1 to recommend allowing a third dispensary under the ordinance. The City Council is expected to take up the matter next week.
The second licensed dispensary, Desert Organic Solutions, is expected to open by month's end in north Palm Springs.
About a dozen patients, including some coping with cancer and arthritis, visited CannaHelp in its first two hours.
Palm Springs resident Elsa Weiss, 59, showed up for medical pot to help her cope with cancer. Weiss said she also supports a November state ballot initiative to legalize pot for recreational use. "If alcohol can be used for recreation" then marijuana "absolutely" should be allowed, she said.
Law enforcement groups such as the California Police Chiefs Association oppose the ballot measure.
For Hochanadel, 33, CannaHelp's opening is the latest step in a journey that started in 1994 when he was about to graduate from Palm Springs High School.
Hochanadel said he had secured a scholarship to play football at the University of Colorado but a severe parasite infection he contracted while swimming in Lake Havasu left him bedridden for more than two years and without most of his large intestine.
"I'd gone from being a jock athlete to a loner person on his deathbed," he recounted.
Heavy doses of steroids and vicodin he took for his condition eventually began to do more harm than good, he said.
In 1996, the same year California voters approved pot for medical use, Hochanadel said friends introduced him to marijuana for the first time, as an alternative to his prescriptions.
He said he's used it to cope with his ailments ever since, and it led him to work to make medical pot more accessible for Coachella Valley patients.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Desert Sun
Author: Marcel Honoré
Contact: The Desert Sun
Copyright: 2010 The Desert Sun
Website: City's first legal pot dispensary is open
The long-awaited CannaHelp dispensary, one of two allowed under a Palm Springs medical cannabis ordinance, officially opened its doors Wednesday – registering patients and distributing medical marijuana.
The dispensary's opening has been a long time coming for CannaHelp owner Stacy Hochanadel.
"It's a profound day," he said. "We finally got there.
CannaHelp is not Palm Springs' first dispensary. A handful of others have opened outside of the ordinance and the city says they're illegal.
By the most recent count, four dispensaries are operating. An attorney for two of those says state law allows them to operate. The city is suing the dispensaries to close.
CannaHelp's opening wasn't the only Palm Springs medical pot-related move Wednesday. The Planning Commission voted 6-0-1 to recommend allowing a third dispensary under the ordinance. The City Council is expected to take up the matter next week.
The second licensed dispensary, Desert Organic Solutions, is expected to open by month's end in north Palm Springs.
About a dozen patients, including some coping with cancer and arthritis, visited CannaHelp in its first two hours.
Palm Springs resident Elsa Weiss, 59, showed up for medical pot to help her cope with cancer. Weiss said she also supports a November state ballot initiative to legalize pot for recreational use. "If alcohol can be used for recreation" then marijuana "absolutely" should be allowed, she said.
Law enforcement groups such as the California Police Chiefs Association oppose the ballot measure.
For Hochanadel, 33, CannaHelp's opening is the latest step in a journey that started in 1994 when he was about to graduate from Palm Springs High School.
Hochanadel said he had secured a scholarship to play football at the University of Colorado but a severe parasite infection he contracted while swimming in Lake Havasu left him bedridden for more than two years and without most of his large intestine.
"I'd gone from being a jock athlete to a loner person on his deathbed," he recounted.
Heavy doses of steroids and vicodin he took for his condition eventually began to do more harm than good, he said.
In 1996, the same year California voters approved pot for medical use, Hochanadel said friends introduced him to marijuana for the first time, as an alternative to his prescriptions.
He said he's used it to cope with his ailments ever since, and it led him to work to make medical pot more accessible for Coachella Valley patients.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Desert Sun
Author: Marcel Honoré
Contact: The Desert Sun
Copyright: 2010 The Desert Sun
Website: City's first legal pot dispensary is open
