Palm Springs council picks 2 pot sites for city

By month's end, several thousand local patients likely will have access to medical marijuana at facilities officially recognized and regulated under city ordinance — a first for the Coachella Valley. On Wednesday, the Palm Springs Council selected the two applicants now allowed to operate medical marijuana facilities in the city by ordinance: Cannahelp in the 500 block of Industrial Place; and Desert Organic Solutions in the 19-400 block of Newhall Road.

The council voted 5-0 for Cannahelp and 3-2 for Desert Organic Solutions, with Mayor Pro Tem Rick Hutcheson and Councilwoman Ginny Foat dissented.

“I could be open tomorrow, depending on what the city would allow,” Cannahelp owner Stacy Hochanadel said after the vote.

Cannahelp could accommodate some 3,000 patients upon opening, then some 12,000 patients within a year, Hochanadel said. The facility would grow about 80 percent of its medical marijuana on-site, he said.

Desert Organic Solutions is a new facility that will start with about 100 patients and eventually grow to some 2,000, said Don Duncan, a consultant for the facility. It hopes to open by the end of February, pending all necessary city inspections, and it would grow about 50 percent of its cannabis on-site, Duncan added.

After the meeting, Palm Springs resident Larz Nielsen, who identified himself as an HIV-positive medical marijuana patient, said he was “relieved” that a Coachella Valley city finally allowed medical cannabis within its borders.

A handful of Palm Springs dispensaries have continued to operate and serve patients in violation of city ordinance, and the city is taking legal action against them.

If those dispensaries “weren't up and running, where would I get my medicine?” Nielsen added.
CAPS rejected

The council voted to reject another applicant, CAPS Apothecary, because it recently opened its doors temporarily to patients.

Previous applicants had been disqualified since they didn't close when asked by the city.

Councilwoman Foat supported CAPS, saying it only reopened at its storefront on the 4000 block Airport Center Drive because “it got to be desperate for some of the patients” who were waiting for Palm Springs to reach a decision on its operators.

The city first passed its ordinance in April 2009, then started evaluating the 11 medical marijuana operator applicants last December.

“It's been a long time coming, caused a lot of heartache to my family,” said Hochanadel, who previously operated a medical marijuana facility in Palm Desert before it was raided by Riverside County sheriff's deputies several years ago.

Hochanadel served on the medical marijuana task force that helped craft Palm Springs' ordinance.

The council also rejected a fourth applicant, Herbal Solutions. Hutcheson supported that applicant because a city staff report stated it would be able to serve 12,000 patients.

The City Council's move Wednesday precedes a measure expected to land on the state ballot in November, The Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, which would legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana for adults.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.