About 100 People Went to Tuesday's Meeting of the Lake Forest City
Council to Ask That Marijuana Dispensaries Be Allowed to Re-Open.

LAKE FOREST Michael Hawkins, an Army veteran stricken with a
double-fist-sized brain tumor, pleaded with the City Council to
reconsider its stance toward the medical marijuana dispensaries that
operated in Lake Forest

"The tumor decimated my marriage and what I spent my life building,"
the 60-year-old said, adding that marijuana reduced his pain. "Look
into the eyes of the people who need medical cannabis, If that day
ever comes for you, I'll stand with you. Please stand with me."

More than 100 patients, caregivers and dispensary owners from across
Orange, Los Angeles and Riverside counties besieged the City Council
on Tuesday night to reconsider their decision to close the
dispensaries. The protest was organized by Orange County NORML and OC
Americans for Safe Access as a response to the city's recent
partnership with the U.S. Attorney General's Office and a crackdown on
eight medical-marijuana dispensaries in a strip mall on Raymond Way.

"I'm glad people came out to support safe access, said Kandice Hawes,
executive director of Orange County NORML. "This is serious. It's the
end of the line. It wasn't right for them to call in the federal
government. ...It's inappropriate to take something that is state law,
and make it illegal. You're driving people onto the streets. Why
aren't you protecting us?"

The protest follows Friday's efforts by building owner Yousef Ibrahim
to order the eight dispensaries in his Raymond Way building to shut
down following federal seizure of his bank account. Ibrahim, who found
out about the seizure from an article in The Orange County Register,
issued a three-day abatement notice to avoid federal prosecution, said
his attorney, Garfield Logan.

Federal agents Saturday delivered asset-forfeiture summonses to some
of the dispensaries, including the Independent Collective of Orange
County and Cannabis Permanente, said attorney Damian Nassiri, who had
defended them in their efforts to fight closure by the city of Lake
Forest.

According to Logan, five of the eight dispensaries closed Tuesday
morning. The others closed later in the day, police said.

"They've been very cooperative," Logan said.

The Lake Forest City Council took no action following the public
comments. The city will move forward with its present litigation
efforts to close down all pot shops in the city. Two dispensaries
remain open.

The dispensaries at 26402 Raymond Way Lake Forest Patients Group at
Suite 201, Pharmers' Choice at 202, Cannabis Permanente at 203,
Evergreen Holistic at 206, Cooperative 207 at 207, Florentina Organic
at 208, Independent Collective of Orange County at 209 and The Health
Collective at 210 were targeted Oct. 7 by the U.S. attorney general
after efforts by the city to remove them continued to be tied up in
legal battles.

Andre Birotte, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of
California, said his office targeted the Lake Forest dispensaries
because the city had spent nearly $600,000 in legal fees trying to
remove them. The city contends the dispensaries violate a zoning ordinance.

On Oct. 6, federal prosecutors filed a forfeiture action against the
eight storefronts in the two-story strip mall, alleging that eight of
11 suites on the second floor are occupied by marijuana stores. The
property is across the street from a school that serves preschoolers
and kindergartners.

Meanwhile, Nassiri and at least 10 other attorneys representing
hundreds of medical-marijuana dispensaries in California met in Costa
Mesa last week to rebut the federal government's planned crackdown.
Nassiri said the attorneys' effort was meant to ensure the government
would not be able to take away the rights of citizens to receive
medical cannabis.

Strategies discussed include demonstrations in Los Angeles and
Riverside counties with patients calling for their right to medical
marijuana. Nassiri said those protests are planned for next week.

Ultimately, more than 100,000 patients are expected to rally later
this year at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., he said.