Hundreds of people lined up for free grams of medical marijuana and discount pricing today as one of Sacramento County's last surviving dispensaries closed with a flourish and a day tinged with politics.
People snaked around the building at the Magnolia Wellness Center, waiting more than two hours for their marijuana as the Orangevale dispensary doled out its inventory and promoted a political drive to overturn the county's ban on cannabis stores.
Sacramento County, which saw as many as 99 marijuana stores open in the past two years, has aggressively used building codes and zoning violations - and fears of federal prosecutions - to shutter all but six dispensaries.
The closure of Magnolia Wellness, which boasted perhaps the largest membership of medical marijuana users in the county, will drop the number to five.
But David Spradlin, a former construction industry contractor who started the business and even registered it for a time with the Orangevale Chamber of Commerce, said the marijuana stores are plotting a comeback.
Magnolia Wellness and dispensary advocates announced they are mounting a petition drive to put a referendum on the November ballot in Sacramento County to force the county to license and regulate dispensaries in the unincorporated region.
"I'm upset over the stance the county is taking," said Spradlin, who said advocates are hoping to draft rules forcing the county to accept one dispensary for every 50,000 residents. "And we're going to be putting the will of the people to a vote."
Alice Long, 65, who said she uses cannabis for pain from knee replacement surgery and headaches and sleeplessness since a car accident, waited for a free gram of "Lemon Wreck" for her headaches. She also bought some "Granddaddy Purple" and a dark chocolate cannabis bar to help her relax.
With the county dispensaries closing, she was feeling more than a little agitated.
"It makes me so upset," she said. "They want to call us stoners. But I've taken every kind of 'sick pill' from my doctor. It doesn't work. Vicodin messes up my stomach. And there is too much stuff that is legal that can kill you."
Sacramento County officials said dispensaries were never allowed under its zoning laws and filed lawsuits and collected more than $90,000 in fines in an effort to close them down.
After federal authorities in October announced they were targeting California medical marijuana outlets and their property owners, the dispensaries began closing en masse.
"The writing was on the wall," Spradlin said.
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