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Monday, October 13, 2008
Garden Grove medical marijuana clinic faces closure
Unit-D could be asked to pack up and leave if council passes ordinance Tuesday banning such dispensaries.
By DEEPA BHARATH
The Orange County Register
GARDEN GROVE The signs to Unit-D start from Brookhurst Street and continue all the way into an alley and a back parking lot, which is full.
At the corner of the parking lot is the door that takes visitors into Unit-D, the only known medical marijuana dispensary in Garden Grove.
On Tuesday, the City Council is expected to take a final vote in favor of banning dispensaries like Unit-D. Garden Grove police Chief Joseph Polisar has vouched his support for the ban citing a possible increase in criminal activity around these clinics.
On a recent morning, business was brisk at Unit-D, which sells its services on the Internet as Tangent Retail and is part of any Southern California medical marijuana discussion board.
At first glance, the waiting room appears no different from a doctor's office. Magazines are stacked up on a side table. A television and a few chairs are positioned around the room.
Mindy S., who runs the front desk behind a glass window, says she does not let any patient through the magnetically-locked door without their identification or a doctor's recommendation. Mindy said she did not want her last name used for "family reasons."
Surveillance cameras monitor all areas of the clinic as well as the parking lot. First-time patients are required to fill in an application form and agree to the condition that they not smoke their marijuana in the premises or as they drive away.
Once Mindy checks their documentation, she lets them through the door and shows them the different grades of marijuana in stock. Mindy says they keep "very little" in Unit-D. On an average, $70 will buy an eighth of an ounce.
Once the patient selects and gets his or her marijuana in a small, blue container, it is put into a white paper bag and handed to the patient.
"We tell every patient to take the bag, put it in the trunk of their car, drive home and then smoke it," says Joe G., who runs the clinic. He wanted to be identified only by his first name because of his involvement in several local community organizations.
Marijuana has been "demonized" for so long, he said, that setting up a business that is allowed under state law is still a huge challenge. CLICK HEREto see a list of medical marijuana dispensaries, support groups and co-ops.
Discrepancy in state and federal law
Medical marijuana was legalized in California by voters through Proposition 215. But it is still considered illegal by the federal government. This discrepancy has left the interpretation of the law to local city officials.
"Let the federal government make marijuana legal and have it sold in drug stores," said Mayor Bill Dalton, a retired Garden Grove police officer. "I have no problem with that."
Sarah Pullen, a spokeswoman for the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, said there are well over 200 dispensaries just in the Los Angeles area.
On Oct. 7, DEA agents raided a marijuana dispensary called Unit-C in Laguna Beach, seizing an unknown amount of marijuana and taking two people into custody. The two were later released.
The decision to raid any particular clinic depends on complaints from neighbors or incident reports, Pullen said. The biggest challenge her agency faces is in educating the public that marijuana use medically or recreationally is illegal.
"Regardless of what state law is, it's still a violation of federal law,'' she said.
Joe G. said the federal law is hurting his patients, who count on dispensaries such as Unit-D to obtain their medication.
"Our patients are not pot heads," he said. "They're people who are sick, who are in pain. Some of them are terminal and marijuana helps ease their pain."
Patients count on it
Patients who came to shop at Unit-D on a recent morning said medical marijuana helps them in a way prescription drugs don't.
"I couldn't sleep because of muscle spasms," said Charles Monson, who became a quadriplegic after a traffic accident when he was 16. "Marijuana helps me manage my spasticity. The first time I smoked medical marijuana was the first night I slept well in 14 years."
Monson, an Orange resident whose home was recently raided by federal officials, said he now gets his medication from the Garden Grove clinic.
Mike Diatalevi of Huntington Beach said marijuana has helped ease his pain. He wouldn't elaborate on his condition.
"Let's just say I'm not as explosive as I used to be," he said.
Other patients said they prefer to buy their medical marijuana in a safe, secure environment rather than from some dealer on the street.
Darryl Purney of Fountain Valley, who takes marijuana for Hepatitis C, says Unit-D has kept him off the streets.
"This has been my answer," he said. "I'd rather pay a higher price here than buy it off the streets where it is a little cheaper."
Dr. Philip A. Denney, a former Lake Forest physician who recently moved his practice to the Sacramento area, said he gives recommendations to patients only after reviewing their medical history, records and administering a thorough physical examination.
"Because marijuana is still illegal in the eyes of the federal government, this is not a prescription," he explained. "It's a recommendation."
Denney says he can't help patients get marijuana, but offers them general information about Web sites where they can find a list of dispensaries.
"My advice to them is always to grow their own," he said. "That way you're not shopping in the black market and you don't have to pay the atrocious prices some of these clubs and even dispensaries charge."
Dalton, the Garden Grove mayor, agrees.
"People do get robbed or killed outside these places," he said. "These clinics are nothing but a legalized way for people to get an illegal substance."
Councilman Mark Rosen, who voted against the ban in a first reading of the ordinance last month, said he would have liked to learn more about Unit-D before making a decision.
"To me, it made a big difference that we already had one operating in our city," he said. "Apparently, there have been no reports of criminal activity at or around this place. If that's true and it's legal and serving a vital purpose, then I think it's unfair to shut the place down."
Garden Grove medical marijuana clinic faces closure
Unit-D could be asked to pack up and leave if council passes ordinance Tuesday banning such dispensaries.
By DEEPA BHARATH
The Orange County Register
GARDEN GROVE The signs to Unit-D start from Brookhurst Street and continue all the way into an alley and a back parking lot, which is full.
At the corner of the parking lot is the door that takes visitors into Unit-D, the only known medical marijuana dispensary in Garden Grove.
On Tuesday, the City Council is expected to take a final vote in favor of banning dispensaries like Unit-D. Garden Grove police Chief Joseph Polisar has vouched his support for the ban citing a possible increase in criminal activity around these clinics.
On a recent morning, business was brisk at Unit-D, which sells its services on the Internet as Tangent Retail and is part of any Southern California medical marijuana discussion board.
At first glance, the waiting room appears no different from a doctor's office. Magazines are stacked up on a side table. A television and a few chairs are positioned around the room.
Mindy S., who runs the front desk behind a glass window, says she does not let any patient through the magnetically-locked door without their identification or a doctor's recommendation. Mindy said she did not want her last name used for "family reasons."
Surveillance cameras monitor all areas of the clinic as well as the parking lot. First-time patients are required to fill in an application form and agree to the condition that they not smoke their marijuana in the premises or as they drive away.
Once Mindy checks their documentation, she lets them through the door and shows them the different grades of marijuana in stock. Mindy says they keep "very little" in Unit-D. On an average, $70 will buy an eighth of an ounce.
Once the patient selects and gets his or her marijuana in a small, blue container, it is put into a white paper bag and handed to the patient.
"We tell every patient to take the bag, put it in the trunk of their car, drive home and then smoke it," says Joe G., who runs the clinic. He wanted to be identified only by his first name because of his involvement in several local community organizations.
Marijuana has been "demonized" for so long, he said, that setting up a business that is allowed under state law is still a huge challenge. CLICK HEREto see a list of medical marijuana dispensaries, support groups and co-ops.
Discrepancy in state and federal law
Medical marijuana was legalized in California by voters through Proposition 215. But it is still considered illegal by the federal government. This discrepancy has left the interpretation of the law to local city officials.
"Let the federal government make marijuana legal and have it sold in drug stores," said Mayor Bill Dalton, a retired Garden Grove police officer. "I have no problem with that."
Sarah Pullen, a spokeswoman for the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, said there are well over 200 dispensaries just in the Los Angeles area.
On Oct. 7, DEA agents raided a marijuana dispensary called Unit-C in Laguna Beach, seizing an unknown amount of marijuana and taking two people into custody. The two were later released.
The decision to raid any particular clinic depends on complaints from neighbors or incident reports, Pullen said. The biggest challenge her agency faces is in educating the public that marijuana use medically or recreationally is illegal.
"Regardless of what state law is, it's still a violation of federal law,'' she said.
Joe G. said the federal law is hurting his patients, who count on dispensaries such as Unit-D to obtain their medication.
"Our patients are not pot heads," he said. "They're people who are sick, who are in pain. Some of them are terminal and marijuana helps ease their pain."
Patients count on it
Patients who came to shop at Unit-D on a recent morning said medical marijuana helps them in a way prescription drugs don't.
"I couldn't sleep because of muscle spasms," said Charles Monson, who became a quadriplegic after a traffic accident when he was 16. "Marijuana helps me manage my spasticity. The first time I smoked medical marijuana was the first night I slept well in 14 years."
Monson, an Orange resident whose home was recently raided by federal officials, said he now gets his medication from the Garden Grove clinic.
Mike Diatalevi of Huntington Beach said marijuana has helped ease his pain. He wouldn't elaborate on his condition.
"Let's just say I'm not as explosive as I used to be," he said.
Other patients said they prefer to buy their medical marijuana in a safe, secure environment rather than from some dealer on the street.
Darryl Purney of Fountain Valley, who takes marijuana for Hepatitis C, says Unit-D has kept him off the streets.
"This has been my answer," he said. "I'd rather pay a higher price here than buy it off the streets where it is a little cheaper."
Dr. Philip A. Denney, a former Lake Forest physician who recently moved his practice to the Sacramento area, said he gives recommendations to patients only after reviewing their medical history, records and administering a thorough physical examination.
"Because marijuana is still illegal in the eyes of the federal government, this is not a prescription," he explained. "It's a recommendation."
Denney says he can't help patients get marijuana, but offers them general information about Web sites where they can find a list of dispensaries.
"My advice to them is always to grow their own," he said. "That way you're not shopping in the black market and you don't have to pay the atrocious prices some of these clubs and even dispensaries charge."
Dalton, the Garden Grove mayor, agrees.
"People do get robbed or killed outside these places," he said. "These clinics are nothing but a legalized way for people to get an illegal substance."
Councilman Mark Rosen, who voted against the ban in a first reading of the ordinance last month, said he would have liked to learn more about Unit-D before making a decision.
"To me, it made a big difference that we already had one operating in our city," he said. "Apparently, there have been no reports of criminal activity at or around this place. If that's true and it's legal and serving a vital purpose, then I think it's unfair to shut the place down."
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