MEDICAL POT ADVOCATES, POLICE TOLD TO HASH OUT DIFFERENCES

Local Dispensary Alleges Officers Harassing Clients

PALM DESERT - Medical marijuana patients and advocates are calling it
harassment. The Palm Desert Police Department says it's just doing
its job. And Mayor Jim Ferguson is trying to get both sides to talk
to each other today.

In the past two weeks, Palm Desert police have stopped a handful of
people coming out of CannaHelp, the city's only licensed medical
marijuana dispensary, on El Paseo and confiscated both their medical
marijuana and the doctors' letters they were carrying to prove they
have valid medical conditions for buying the drug.

The incidents have brought to a head simmering tensions in the city,
which for the past few months has wrestled with the issue of whether
it should allow medical marijuana dispensaries and how to regulate them.

The City Council passed a 45-day moratorium on licensing dispensaries
on Dec. 24, intended as a holding strategy while officials come up
with dispensary regulations this year.

"I want to ... have the police department hear from the advocates and
have the advocates hear the police and see if we can strike a
balance," said Ferguson, who has set up a meeting for today.

For Stacy Hochanadel, who started CannaHelp, originally named
Hempie's, in October, the incidents point to increased police
patrolling around the dispensary.

"They decided to pick out our parking lot as a target," he said.
"They were singling out people carrying packages."

At one point, Hochanadel said, he tried to talk with a police officer
parked in the lot.

"I got five feet from the (car) door, and he had his gun drawn and
told me to step back," he said.

Hochanadel said he was not able to get the officer's name or badge
number before he drove away.

Lt. Steve Thetford, Palm Desert's assistant chief of police,
responded to the harassment allegations by saying that the department
is not "going after (CannaHelp) in any way, shape or form.

"In the course of our normal (patrols), we've come across people in
possession of marijuana (who) had questionable documentation. ... We
keep coming across form letters from doctors we can't verify right
away," he said.

Thetford said in four or five instances, police had confiscated a
person's medical marijuana and doctor's letter.

He also pointed to a recent incident in which a CannaHelp client was
arrested in another part of the city for trying to sell two teens
marijuana he bought at the dispensary.

Guyrun Amirghan, 24, of Sunnyvale was arrested about 4:30 p.m. on
Dec. 27 for felony possession of marijuana for sale and soliciting
drugs to minors. He was released on $50,000 bail on Dec. 28.

When police informed Hochanadel about the arrest, he provided them
with information on Amirghan, who, he said, had only recently
registered at the dispensary. Hochanadel said Amirghan is no longer
on the dispensary's approved patient list.

Statewide Issue

The tensions between police and medical marijuana users in Palm
Desert are rooted in Californians' continuing ambivalence about the
issue, some advocates say.

California voters passed Proposition 215, legalizing the medical use
of marijuana, in 1996. But the state Legislature took another seven
years to pass a law, Senate Bill 420, providing counties and cities
with basic regulations on how to implement a medical marijuana program.

The U.S. Supreme Court's June decision in Gonzales v. Raich further
muddied the waters. The court ruled federal antidrug and interstate
commerce laws take precedence over state initiatives like
California's. State Attorney General Bill Lockyer has issued several
statements maintaining the legality of California's laws.

But according to Don Duncan, director of the Los Angeles Patients &
Caregivers Group, a medical marijuana dispensary in West Hollywood,
Sacramento has not provided a lot of leadership on how to implement
SB 420, which took effect in 2004.

Having some kind of ordinance is "very reassuring to police
departments cause they know the ground rules," he said.

"City by city, you'll see it's important that they come up with rules
in some (form). Patients want to comply with the law."

West Hollywood, which passed a medical marijuana ordinance in July,
has seven dispensaries. City officials were unavailable for comment.

Duncan said his dispensary has had good relations with area police
since it opened over a year ago.

"We contacted the police department before opening (and) made a point
to meet local beat (officers)," he said. "That cooperative approach
has eased tensions; we're working with them to address neighborhood concerns."

ID Cards

Riverside County's decision to issue state identification cards to
qualified medical marijuana users beginning Dec. 1 may have touched
off the police actions against CannaHelp clients in Palm Desert.

"We're not coming across the ID," said Thetford. "(We're seeing) form
letters that are fill-in-the-blanks with doctors, which we're not
able to verify."

But, advocates say, it's too soon to expect most patients to have the
county IDs.

Since Dec. 1, the Riverside County Department of Public Health has
only received 48 applications for medical marijuana IDs, said
Victoria Jauregui Burns, a program chief at the department.

"Some of the applicants are uncomfortable with the information we
keep on file," Burns said. "We anticipate as people become more
comfortable with it, we'll have more (applicants)."

And she said, most of the applications have gone through without any problems.

Lanny Swerdlow, director of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project, a
medical marijuana advocacy group, said police should be giving
warnings to medical marijuana users with doctors' form letters
instead of IDs and not confiscating their marijuana.

"I would like to see them leave the patients alone," said Swerdlow,
who will be at the meeting today. "If they're insistent about the ID,
then give people adequate time to get an ID card and start meeting
with patients to resolve this issue."

In the meantime, Hochanadel has hired a security guard to patrol the
dispensary's parking lot and added two new outside surveillance
cameras to the 16 he already installed inside.

And he said, he wants to keep working with city.

"I'm looking forward to proving to them this is a legitimate thing,"
he said. "It's good for the community."

Michael Shimer, president of the El Paseo Merchants Association, said
the dispensary hasn't hurt business in the upscale shopping district.

"Until I read about it in the paper, I didn't know it was there," he said.

Medical Marijuana IDs

To apply for a medical marijuana ID card, contact the Riverside
County Public Health Department at (888) 358-7932. Cards are $100,
half-price for Medi-Cal patients. Applicants must show a valid
identification, proof of county residency and a doctor's
recommendation. As long as all documentation is in order, it takes
about 10-14 days to process the ID applications.

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HOW WE GOT HERE

. Oct. 12: Stacy Hochanadel applies to Palm Desert for a business
license for Hempie's, a medical marijuana dispensary located at
73-350 El Paseo.

. Oct. 13: The Palm Desert City Council passes a first reading of a
proposed ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.

. Oct. 14: The city issues a business license to Hochanadel.

. Oct.27: The council reverses its decision on the ban after hearing
from medical marijuana users and advocates, including Hochanadel.
Council members direct city staff to research the issue and come back
with a dispensary ordinance.

. Nov. 18: Pierre Werner of Las Vegas, a medical marijuana user and
advocate, applies for a business license to open a dispensary at
74-273 Highway 111.

. Dec. 1: Riverside County begins issuing medical marijuana
identification cards; patients must be county residents and have a
doctor's letter of recommendation.

. Dec. 12: Werner applies for a second business license to open a
dispensary in Indian Wells, at 74-900 Highway 111.

. Dec. 15: The Indian Wells City Council votes 4-1 for a 45-day
moratorium on dispensaries, with Councilman Rob Bernheimer the sole no vote.

. Dec. 23: Werner says he will open a dispensary at the Palm Desert
location on Christmas Day and give qualified patients medical
marijuana for free. The city announces a special meeting for Dec. 24
to pass an emergency 45-day moratorium. Werner agrees not to open the
dispensary.

. Dec. 24: The council passes the 45-day moratorium.

. Dec. 28: Mayor Jim Ferguson receives complaints from medical
marijuana advocates about harassment of patients by Palm Desert
police at CannaHelp.

. Dec. 29: Ferguson sets a meeting between police and advocates for Jan. 3.