Medical marijuana dispensary opens in Cottonwood

READY TO GO: Matthew Mosher, owner of Your Cottonwood Collective, will donate proceeds from the medical marijuana dispensary to the Cottonwood Community Library.

Your Cottonwood Collective, a medical marijuana dispensary, was scheduled to open Tuesday, Sept. 1, at 3317 B Main St. in Cottonwood.

Only members of the collective can be customers and members must be physician approved, business owner and six-year Cottonwood resident Mathew Mosher said.

"We also check to be sure the physician is legitimate," Mosher said. "Some places don't even do that.

The dispensary would hold the marijuana that members bring in to sell from their own medical marijuana plants, should anyone grow more than they can consume of their medical allotment, Mosher said.

"By law, we're not allowed to sell (marijuana), but we can facilitate transactions between members," Mosher said, adding that the discrepancy between selling and facilitating amounts to word play.

"I have mixed feelings," said Bill Price, who lives across Main Street from the dispensary. "If it's done truly for medical reasons, then I have no problems. If it's done as a guise to pass out dope, I do have a problem with it."

The business is located directly behind Roger's Frosty and slightly more than two blocks away from East Cottonwood Elementary School. Local business owner Jan Kessner, Roger's Frosty manager Debbie Lomont and others took issue with the dispensary's proximity to these establishments.

However, medical marijuana dispensaries have not been singled out for specific zoning regulation by the county.

"Until directed by the board of supervisors, ... we treat it like a pharmacy," said Rick Simon, assistant director of resource management for Shasta County.

"I don't think it needs to be in the community, out in front of kids. I would prefer they bought their marijuana in secret somewhere," Cottonwood Barber Shop owner Woody Clendenen said."I knew some people that did this, there's nothing wrong with them. They're just stoners."

The legalization of medical marijuana use in California occurred with the passing of Proposition 215 in 1996.

"We the people voted for it," Mosher said. "It's been 14 years now. Counties have had ample time to make ordinances for it. It's time to wake-up and get used to what the people want."

Proposition 215 is another term for the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, according to the California state government Web site.

"Prop. 215 was the first statewide medical marijuana measure voted into law in the United States. Prop. 215 provides protections to seriously ill persons who have their doctor's recommendation to use marijuana for medical purposes. Prop. 215 also provides protections to the physicians and primary caregivers who assist these seriously ill persons, who are known as "qualified patients" under SB 420 (Chapter 875, Statutes of 2003)."

The state Web site also lists qualified medical conditions:

"A serious medical condition, as defined by SB 420, is any of the following: AIDS; anorexia; arthritis; cachexia (wasting syndrome); cancer; chronic pain; glaucoma; migraine; persistent muscle spasms (i.e., spasms associated with multiple sclerosis); seizures (i.e., epileptic seizures); severe nausea; any other chronic or persistent medical symptom that either substantially limits a person's ability to conduct one or more of major life activities as defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, or if not alleviated, may cause serious harm to the person's safety, physical, or mental health."

"The Chamber welcomes new businesses, that's our position," Cottonwood Chamber of Commerce President Cheri Skudlarek said.