California, Agoura Hills

[budman]

Medical marijuana distributor under scrutiny

Agoura Hills wants facility closed

The Acorn
By Stephanie Bertholdo bertholdo@theacorn.com
September 14, 2006


The city of Agoura Hills said it is investigating the Conejo Wellness Center, a medical marijuana cooperative on Agoura Road, with the intent of shutting the facility down.

In Agoura Hills, the center is not a "permitted use," said City Manager Greg Ramirez.

Dispensing medical marijuana in California, however, is a permitted use, and has been for more than a decade after Californians passed Proposition 215, also known as the Compassionate Use Act. The law allows seriously ill Californians the right to possess and use marijuana to ease the pain from such chronic conditions as AIDS, multiple sclerosis, cancer and other illnesses.

Today, medical marijuana cooperatives dispense the drug to adults who've been diagnosed with everything from headaches and back pain to anxiety, nausea and insomnia.

While many doctors and medical marijuana dispensary operators follow the letter of the law in how much marijuana they can grow and dispense to patients, others have interpreted the law in much broader terms and administer the weed liberally.

Ultimately, doctors are the ones who make the decision whether medical marijuana is a fitting drug for any illness.

Local teens reportedly have found it easy to obtain the medical marijuana identification cards and use the drug recreationally.

The lure of higher quality marijuana, obtained legally, has made the Conejo Wellness Center a popular hangout spot for teens, officials said. Loitering plagued the office building at 29399 Agoura Road, raising concerns for the landlord and at least one tenant, who wished to remain anonymous.

Richard Pavolieri, owner of All Brand Copiers, which occupies suite 112 in the building, said he had subleased space to the unnamed owner of Conejo Wellness Center, which shares the suite 112 address. Pavolieri said the office building's landlord, Marty Green, "kicked (the Wellness Center owner) out.

"The (Wellness Center's) owner split," Pavolieri said.

Exactly who owns and operates the Conejo Wellness Center, where phone calls were still being picked up over the weekend, remains unclear. When the center was contacted for a comment regarding the city's investigation, the employee who answered the phone would not provide the owner's name, but agreed to pass the message along to the owner. Pavolieri received the message and returned the phone call to The Acorn.

Some tenants believe the cooperative is being operated out of Pavolieri's business.

"It's not a copier place, it's a front," said a tenant who did not want his name used. "No one has walked in or out of that place with a copier for six months."

The tenant said people continue to come to the building looking for their "medication."

All Brand Copiers and Conejo Wellness Center have advertised under the same address, but each business uses a different telephone number.

"We don't want this business in our city," Ramirez said.

[Midnight toker]

This is a downright LIE:
<blockquote>
<i>While the law was initially proposed to allow seriously ill Californians the right to possess and use marijuana to ease pain from such conditions as AIDS, multiple sclerosis and cancer, it was expanded to allow doctors to prescribe the substance for headaches, nausea, anxiety and other more common ailments. </i>
</blockquote>

Agoura Hills marijuana dispensary closed
Some believe copier business was a front

By Stephanie Bertholdo bertholdo@theacorn.com
The Acorn
September 28, 2006


The Conejo Wellness Center, a medical marijuana dispensary in Agoura Hills, has agreed to vacate the Agoura Road office building by Oct. 23. A settlement agreement was reached between the owners of the building and Richard Tavolieri, the alleged owner of the marijuana cooperative.

All Brand Copiers and the Conejo Wellness Center are listed at the same address-29399 Agoura Road, Ste. 112.

Tavolieri denied all allegations in the complaint, according to Gerard Dougherty, owner of Dougherty & Landon, APC, the Westlake Village law firm that represented the office building owners in the case. But Tavolieri agreed to the terms of the settlement.

Other tenants of the building believe Tavolieri has used All Brand Copiers as a front for the Conejo Wellness Center since March.

The lease was issued to All Brand Copiers, Dougherty said. The sale of marijuana at the location violated the terms of the lease.

A court date was scheduled for Sept. 14 at Van Nuys Superior Court, but the settlement was reached before the parties met with a judge.

Tavolieri was not available for comment.

Medicinal marijuana distribution in a commercial building is not permitted by the Agoura Hills municipal code.

One tenant, who didn't want his name revealed, said about 300 people visit the copier business each week, but he said they leave with their marijuana prescriptions filled.

The tenant said other people in the building have seen teenagers leave the dispensary and distribute pot to teens waiting outside.

Medical marijuana is legal in California and several other states. This year marks the 10year anniversary of the passage of Proposition 215, also known as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996. Every city in the state, however, has the right to allow or disallow such business, said Dougherty.

While the law was initially proposed to allow seriously ill Californians the right to possess and use marijuana to ease pain from such conditions as AIDS, multiple sclerosis and cancer, it was expanded to allow doctors to prescribe the substance for headaches, nausea, anxiety and other more common ailments.

Dougherty said if Tavolieri doesn't vacate his business by the designated date, a sheriff will evict him.

[palmspringsbum]

Rethinking medical marijuana

The Acorn
October 12, 2006

Steve Comstock, a 23-year-old Thousand Oaks resident, says he's dying from Hodgkin's lymphoma and is in dire need of medical marijuana to relieve the painful condition. Loren Green, a 58-year-old man who works in Agoura Hills, says he uses marijuana to ease his symptoms of depression, anxiety and arthritis. But the condition of neither person failed to prevent the Agoura Hills City Council from enacting a recent moratorium barring medical marijuana cooperatives from the city.

The council was correct to approve the moratorium. The action came in response to the closing of the Conejo Wellness Center, a cannabis distributor on Agoura Road that was said to be operating under the guise of a copier business.

While few doubt the medical advantages of marijuana use-the California Compassionate Use Act of 1996 allows pot prescriptions to be filled for medicinal purposes-too many of the dispensaries operate on the fringes of the law.

Many doctors and dispensary operators are extremely careful in how much marijuana they dispense to patients, but others have interpreted the law in much broader terms and prescribe the weed liberally. Worse, young people are said to be obtaining illegal prescriptions and using the drug for recreational purposes. The system is fraught with loopholes and cities such as Agoura Hills have exercised their right to throw the businesses out of town.

The intent of the medical marijuana law was to help quash the black market and ensure safe and affordable access for legitimately qualified individuals, but too many of these cannabis centers have become storefront dope houses.

We think marijuana holds a rightful place in the medical drug inventory-its benefits are indisputable-but like other prescription drugs, it will always be abused.

Medical marijuana has a future-if better controls can be put into place.

[palmspringsbum]

Longer ban on marijuana dispensaries considered

<span class=postbigbold>Agoura weighs new date of Sept. 2008</span>

The Ventura County Star
By Jean Ortiz, jortiz@VenturaCountyStar.com
November 7, 2006

Amid uncertainty about the legality of medical marijuana dispensaries, the Agoura Hills City Council on Wednesday will consider extending a temporary ban on such businesses to give the issue more study.

The council approved a 45-day moratorium Sept. 27, prohibiting dispensaries from doing business in the city. That decision came shortly after the closure of the Conejo Wellness Center on Agoura Road. The business did not have a license to operate in the city and may have attempted to "conceal the true nature of the establishment," city officials have alleged.

City officials are closely watching how other cities are handling the issue, which will factor heavily in their study, City Attorney Craig Steele said.

Cities across the state, including Oxnard, Moorpark and Simi Valley, have taken similar steps to deal with the conflict between state and federal law. Proposition 215, approved by California voters in 1996, allows the use of medical marijuana with a physician's consent. The U.S. Supreme Court in June 2005 ruled such use illegal.

City staff members are not dealing in opinion or the merits of Proposition 215, Steele said.

"It's up to us to take a good professional look at the way communities have addressed this issue and give our best advice to the City Council," Steele said.

If extended as recommended by city staff, the ban would expire in September 2008. The two-year prohibition is the maximum allowable by state law.

City code currently doesn't allow medical marijuana dispensaries, but it doesn't prohibit them either.

The council will meet at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at 30001 Ladyface Court

[palmspringsbum]

November 23, 2006

Ban against marijuana dispensary is extended
By Stephanie Bertholdo
bertholdo@theacorn.com
The Acorn


The city of Agoura Hills has voted to continue the moratorium barring the operation of medical marijuana cooperatives in the city.

City Council members agreed to extend the moratorium for two years, the maximum allowed for the temporary, stopgap measure.

Craig Steele, Agoura Hills' city attorney, said that although the moratorium was extended to 2008 it could be repealed at any time.

The action came in response to the closing of the Conejo Wellness Center, a cannabis distributor that allegedly operated under the guise of a copier business on Agoura Road. The dispensary was closed down because of lease violations.

"People who started the business had no right to start it," Steele said.

Steele said since Agoura Hills adopted the initial 45-day moratorium, several other cities and counties have launched legal action to determine whether municipalities and other agencies have the legal authority to regulate or prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries.

Councilmember Dan Kuperberg said it was legally and fiscally prudent to extend the moratorium, but that it was not an easy issue.

"The voters in this state have spoken," Kuperberg said of Proposition 215, an initiative that was passed 10 years ago in California to legally allow certain medical uses of marijuana.

Kuperberg called for a more in-depth study of the issue before making a final decision on whether to allow or disallow cannabis cooperatives in the city. He wants the staff to study such issues as quality control and how to regulate and monitor dispensaries, and maybe even tax such establishments. "It's better than selling it out of the back of your car," Kuperberg said.

He instructed the city's staff to talk to medical experts, the Wellness Community and oncologists to determine whether medical marijuana is a better choice for some serious illnesses than standard pharmaceutical drugs.

"Does it help, or does it make you feel better," Kuperberg asked. "Maybe it's good enough" to just feel better, he said.

Since medical marijuana use is still a federal offense, some council members worried about the federal government taking legal action against cities if the council found in favor of medical marijuana cooperatives operating in the city.

Steele said it was unlikely the federal government would take legal action against a city for allowing the use. The federal government, he said, would be more likely to get involved if the city tried to regulate the dispensaries or facilitate the operation directly.

The council members instructed their staff to study the issue and report back within six months.

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