City Attorney Greg Priamos maintains that the zoning code bans all medical-marijuana distribution facilities. In May, the city sought an injunction to close a marijuana-patient collective on North Main Street that had been open since December 2009. A hearing on the case is set in November.
Medical-marijuana supporters and opponents continue to debate whether federal prohibition of the substance should trump a state law that allows its medicinal use.
A number of Inland cities, such as Norco and Lake Elsinore, have banned marijuana dispensaries. Palm Springs is the only city in the Riverside-San Bernardino area to allow them.
Priamos said the injunction requests, filed in Riverside County Superior Court on Tuesday, were the city's next step after it sent "cease and desist" letters to the six dispensaries over the past few months.
"To date, we've not received enough cooperation that we would delay," Priamos said. "We felt we had no choice but to file."
Three facilities -- Compassionate Wellness Center of Riverside, Hole in One Collective and Discount Mobile Collective -- are on Hole Avenue near Tyler Street.
Riverside Compassionate Patients Association is on Magnolia Avenue near Brockton Avenue, Inland Empire Caregiver is on East La Cadena Drive, and Lakeview Collective has a La Sierra Avenue address, according to the city's court filing.
Workers at most of the facilities declined to comment or could not be reached Wednesday.
Lakeview Collective operator Helen Hauptman said in a phone interview she is trying to work with the city. She doesn't believe she is in violation of Riverside's zoning code because her operation -- a collective open only to members -- is a motor home that is mobile rather than a fixed storefront.
"We're not a facility, we're a vehicle," she said.
Hauptman and her husband quit dispensing in Norco after police there cited them. She said Wednesday that she stopped operations in Riverside once she received the city's letter. She still runs a Riverside clinic where patients can see a doctor about a medical marijuana recommendation.
Priamos disagreed with Hauptman's interpretation of the code and said mobile dispensaries are still prohibited.
Once the dispensaries file responses to the city's injunction request, court dates will be set.
Hauptman said she believes the crackdown in Los Angeles and elsewhere on storefront dispensaries is driving an increase in mobile pot operations. It could be a good solution to meet patients' needs while answering concerns about fixed locations, she said.
"All those issues that they have with collectives and crime, all that stuff wouldn't apply," she said.
Source: The Press-Enterprise
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