Palm Springs To Determine Fate Of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

PALM SPRINGS -The Palm Springs City Attorney says city leaders may decide exactly how many medical marijuana dispensaries will be allowed to open.

Elevendispensaries have applied, but city officials may only pick two.

But there’s a backlash.Petitionsare making the rounds,claimingmarijuana dispensaries will bring a bad group of people in their neighborhoods. But medical marijuana patients say they need some place to get their medicine.

The patients call marijuana medicine.

Others call it a drug that ruins neighborhoods.

When the Palm Springs City Council conditionally agreed to allow a few medical marijuana dispensaries to open up they didn’t anticipate this:more than 500 pagesmake up the applications for only 11 different marijuana dispensaries.

Palm Springs is saying that’s far too many.

Many of these applications are from Los Angeles area business people. LA has hundreds of dispensaries and Palm Springs doesn’t want them to move here in large numbers.

“Los Angeles is now looking at having their own cap,” said Palm Springs City Attorney Doug Holland. “Recently West Hollywood adapted an ordinance that places a cap and that is going with a more regulatory format rather than their previous plan has. I would suggest that they’ve been watching us and they’re following what we’re doing.”

Marijuana patients tell us three local dispensaries recently shut down in this uncertain environment for their cooperatives.

There are two dispensaries that want to open up just south of the Palm Spring Gateway Neighborhood, and three dispensaries want to open in the area near Williams Road and Sunny Dunes.

Some neighboring business owners have signed this petition opposing the pot shops.

“Knowing that marijuana would be selling right next door to me, it’s not really for the youth,” said concerned business owner Randy Carillo. “It’s more temptation. For me, it’s more like anything can happen now.”

“You never know what clientele they might have,” said Gold cart store owner Felipe Gonzales. “Being my neighbor, or could possible be my neighbor, sometimes we have keys in golf carts, thing like that. Who knows what kind of clientele is going to go in there and purchase that product?”

Liquor store owner Esther Juan concedes that opposing the marijuana dispensary may be a conflict considering some would question the crime and security concerns of this kind of store, but she defends her petition signature, saying: “This is a community of working people and we’re raising children. If possible, I don’t want a marijuana dispensary around.”

The city says they’ll pick2 out of 11 dispensaries by looking at which ones have the best locations and security.

But the marijuana patients here say the decision making process is too subjective.