WHITTIER POT CLUB KEEPS LOW PROFILE

WHITTIER - There is little to tell people where they are. There is no
fancy logo on the front, just a handwritten paper sign taped to the
door.

No one from the city even knew the place existed until this week,
when the City Council voted to approve an ordinance allowing medical
marijuana dispensaries to open in Whittier while restricting them to
industrial areas of the city.

As council members debated the new law, members of the Whittier
Collective, a medical marijuana dispensary operating inside a
nondescript office in the Washington-Whittier Medical Center,
testified at Tuesday's hearing.

The Whittier Collective is a group of about 100 medical marijuana
users, according to its spokesman, who called himself John and
refused to provide his full name, saying he fears federal
prosecution.

In a telephone interview, John said the group picked its location
precisely because it is a medical building.

"It should be in a medical facility," he said. "It shouldn't be put
in an industrial area like out in a back alley. People feel more
comfortable going to a medical facility."

But the office space would not be legal under the city's proposed
ordinance, which will not become law until the council comes back
Jan. 10 to approve the second reading of the ordinance.

However, even if the ordinance is approved, the collective could stay
where it is - at least until the city's lawyers clear up the details.

Council members instructed City Attorney Dick Jones to return with a
recommendation for how long the collective can legally stay at its
present location.

The situation is exactly why an ordinance governing where medical
marijuana dispensaries can open is needed, said Mayor Greg Nordbak,
who was one of three council members to vote in favor of the
ordinance.

"We can control them with location, rules and guidelines," Nordbak
said. "They are legal in the state right now."

Medical marijuana dispensaries have been legal under state law since
1996, when California voters passed Proposition 215, which allows
marijuana to be used for medicinal purposes. However, under federal
law, marijuana is illegal to possess and use.

The Whittier Collective started because many patients want to get
their medical marijuana closer to home, John said. It is not a
business but more like a co-op of people who get together and provide
the marijuana.

The marijuana comes from patients who grow it. Proposition 215 allows
patients with marijuana prescriptions from doctors to grow up to 12
plants.

The club provides about 20 different strands, as well as various
baked goods, including marijuana-laced brownies, cookies, candies and
chocolates, he said.

A patient going to the clinic must have a presciption, John
said.

"Security checks them and verifies their scrip," he said. "We don't
just look at the letter. We actually call the doctor's office. If we
can't get hold of the doctor, they can't come in."

Patients pick out the marijuana they want and then make a donation,
typically about $50, he said, which pays for the lease and expenses.