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Fed’s are distorting the truth about dispensary selling marijuana to minors
By Hempology | July 23, 2007
The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, CA
21 Jul 2007
ARREST CASTS SHADOW OVER FUTURE DISPENSARIES
Local Residents Who Use Medicinal Marijuana Fear The Indictment Of The Morro Bay Shop’S Ex-Owner Could Discourage Plans For Future Dispensaries
Local residents who use marijuana medicinally have no place to legally purchase pot in the county, and some fear Tuesday’s federal indictment of the former owner of a Morro Bay dispensary will discourage any shops in the future.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials indicted Charles Lynch on federal charges of selling marijuana for profit and distributing it to minors.
Lynch ran Compassionate Caregivers, the county’s only marijuana dispensary before it closed after being raided in April by federal drug enforcement agents and county Sheriff’s Department officials.
He was released this week on $400,000 bond and is expected to be arraigned in a Los Angeles federal court Monday, according to his San Luis Obispo attorney, Louis Koory.
Koory said federal authorities are distorting the truth about the dispensary selling marijuana to minors. Two were listed in the indictment who went to the dispensary with their parents and a physician’s recommendation. The others were between 18 and 21 and had doctors’ recommendations, Koory said.
He also pointed to money federal investigators are calling a profit, which he said was actually used to pay expenses to run the dispensary.
“Their decision to prosecute medical pot dispensaries is a political one,” Koory said. “If Charles Lynch did everything proper and lawful under state law, he would still technically be in violation of federal law.”
Since the county’s Public Health Department began issuing medical marijuana identification cards in December, 56 county residents have received cards, said county Health Officer Greg Thomas.
The $131 card is necessary to purchase marijuana from a dispensary. Cardholders’ names are entered into a statewide database so law enforcement can verify them.
Thomas said he doesn’t know where local residents are filling their prescriptions for
marijuana but has heard rumors that some people were trying to buy it on the street because they cannot get to a dispensary in another county.
Atascadero resident Elaine McKellips said the nearest dispensary now is in Buellton, which is too far for people like her, who don’t drive.
“They’re making it harder to get medical marijuana in San Luis Obispo County,” she said.
The 55-year-old has a prescription for marijuana to relieve nausea and other symptoms caused by her complex stomach disorder, gastroparesis. She said she hopes the county and residents don’t punish future dispensaries for any crimes that may have been committed by this one.
Property owner Kent Connella has proposed opening a dispensary in Templeton. He could not be reached for comment this week on whether Lynch’s arrest had changed his plans.
The county Planning Commission is scheduled to vote Thursday on Connella’s proposal. County planner Kami Griffin said Wednesday that Lynch’s arrest would not change the county’s recommendation that the commission approve the Templeton dispensary.
The proposal, she said, is consistent with a county ordinance allowing medical marijuana dispensaries in some unincorporated inland areas.
However, the proposal has prompted opposition from many in the community, including Supervisor Harry Ovitt, the Templeton Unified School District and Templeton Chamber of Commerce.
Sgt. Brian Hascall, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman, said his agency remains opposed to the plan. “We’ve come out in opposition to it solidly since they announced they wanted to open the place,” he said. “Our biggest thing is that there really is no regulation.”
Tribune staff writers Sarah Arnquist, Stephen Curran and Leslie Parrilla contributed to this report.
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