Cannabis Dispensaries Opening In Palm Springs
After more than a year of planning and several stumbling blocks, two Palm Springs cannabis dispensaries will soon open their doors.
Desert Organic Solutions is slated to open for the first time on Memorial Day Weekend, which means Coachella Valley medical marijuana patients will no longer have to travel to Los Angeles for medication.
“All of the display cases will be an L-shape,” said Gary Cherlin, president and CEO of Desert Organic Solutions, as he pointed toward the area in his new dispensary where cannabis will be disbursed to medical marijuana patients in need.
“Oh, god, it was a long process,” he said.
But, the wait is well worth the reward for medical marijuana patient Jeffrey Nichols, ” because I really do believe it’s nature’s herb,” he said.
Cherlin said not just anyone can purchase medicinal marijuana at his shop.
“This is where [the patients] will hand our staff members their medical marijuana card, their doctor’s recommendation and their California ID,” said Cherlin, explaining the security protocol.
He also said the city wouldn’t approve the dispensary’s permit until he presented a detailed plan of how the cannabis would be disbursed.
The facility is still a construction site and it will be until opening day, Cherlin said.
What makes the dispensary unique is that it’s a collective, said Cherlin, who will cultivate, or grow, the cannabis that it sells.
“That’s important, because [patients] don’t want the medical cannabis from, you know, gangs, or you know, from illegal places,” said Cherlin.
“If it was up to me, medical marijuana, your prescription could be filled at the local pharmacy,” said Ginny Foat, a Palm Springs City Council member.
Cannahelp, which was shut down for more than a year because it was not in compliance with the city ordinance, announced Thursday that it has passed a city inspection and is scheduled to reopen next week.
By the end of the month, two legal cannabis dispensaries will be up and running in Palm Springs.
The City Council will decide next week whether or not to approve a third dispensary.
“I’ve seen the benefits of medical marijuana in wasting syndrome, with cancer patients. This, to me, is medicine,” said Float.
