Gary Reynolds has invested upward of $20,000 in setting up the storefront of his business venture on Commercial Street – all without knowing whether it will be allowed.

He owns and hopes to operate Sweet Relief, one of four prospective medical marijuana dispensaries in Clatsop County waiting for approval from the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and possibly facing a one-year moratorium from cities and Clatsop County.

“It’s like going to Vegas and putting your life savings on the craps table and rolling 7-11,” said Reynolds, who keeps putting money into his location at 1444 Commercial St. – the former Bent Needle – but waits to open until he hears back from OHA on whether his dispensary permit, which he paid $4,000 to apply for, will be accepted.

He’s also applied for a permit in Scappoose, although he hasn’t worked on a street front there.

House Bill 3460 legalized medical marijuana dispensaries and directed the OHA, which has overseen the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP) since its inception in 1998, “to develop and implement a process to register medical marijuana facilities.” When it started accepting dispensary applications March 3, the OHA received more than 280 applications, costing $4,000 each, from throughout the state, including four from Clatsop County and nearly half from Multnomah County.

The operations hope to serve registered OMMP cardholders, who numbered 568 in Clatsop County and more than 60,000 statewide as of Jan. 1, with marijuana produced by registered caregivers, who numbered more than 30,000.

Sweet Relief is joined in Clatsop County by Nature’s Choice, operated since 2011 by Nick Clark at 229 W. Marine Drive. Ian Gonzalez and his mother Dawn Greenfield, who unsuccessfully applied for a business license to open Nature’s Spirit in Seaside, have also set up shop as the Farmacy at 2911 Marine Drive and are one of the applicants for a dispensary permit. Highway 420 at 1803 S. Roosevelt Drive in Seaside has also applied for a permit.

“We’re not messing with Seaside anymore,” said Gonzalez, whose application was refused based on Seaside city ordinance No. 110.04, which allows its governing body to prohibit businesses that violate city, state or federal law. Gonzalez said Astoria seems to be more receptive to alternative sources of revenue.

Although City Attorney Blair Henningsgaard said he’s found that Astoria has no similar ordinance blocking dispensaries, Astoria’s three potential operations could soon face a one-year moratorium in the city and throughout the county.

Clampdown coming

“One thing that has been requested by the mayor and city council is that we bring forward an ordinance dealing with medical marijuana dispensaries,” said interim City Manager Brett Estes, adding that Police Chief Peter Curzon is working with Henningsgaard to draft a moratorium.

Senate Bill 1531, which was signed by both chambers of the Oregon Legislature March 11, allows cities and counties by May 1 to place a one-year moratorium on dispensaries. They may also regulate hours, locations and the method by which the operations dispense medical marijuana.

Twenty-one cities, including Clatskanie and Scappoose, effectively ban dispensaries, while 14 more have enacted moratoriums lasting up to one year. It’s unclear whether the bans will stand up, as the state requires moratoriums to end by May 1, 2015, after which cities and counties may still regulate the operations of dispensaries.

Clatsop County’s general counsel Heather Reynolds said the League of Oregon Cities and Association of Oregon Counties have created a draft moratorium being modified and brought forward in cities and counties throughout Oregon, including Astoria and Clatsop County.

District Attorney Josh Marquis said he and Sheriff Tom Bergin will testify at a March 26 county commission meeting in favor of the moratorium.

“Nothing’s going to happen until there’s actually legislation,” said Reynolds about locals waiting for the Gov. John Kitzhaber to sign Senate Bill 1561, which his office said was still in the review process. The bill must be signed by the governor within 30 days of its assignment in the Legislature.

Like a pharmacy

Gary Reynolds, Gonzalez and other operators aim to run their dispensaries like pharmacies, providing patients with medicine they need to combat any number of ailments, from general pain to cancer.

There is no consumption or growing of marijuana allowed at dispensaries. Products coming from dispensaries must be in child-safe packaging and not be designed to be attractive to minors.

The tinted windows of Sweet Relief leave much to the imagination. Inside the storefront, Gary Reynolds and friends have created a lobby area where patients will get their OMMP cards scanned before admittance to the back room, where marijuana buds, edibles, tinctures, plants, lotions and other products await.

“Everything needs to be tracked,” said Gonzalez about the dispensary rules. “Every plant has a bar code.”

The dispensaries must be in the right commercial, industrial or agricultural zone and at least 1,000 feet from schools and other dispensaries. They can sell unflowered, immature plants less than 12 inches tall. Other key provisions, according to the OHA, include that:

* No person convicted of the manufacture or delivery of a Schedule I or II substance in the past five years will be allowed to register a dispensary. People with more than one conviction are permanently banned from operating dispensaries.

* All medical marijuana distributed through dispensaries must be tested for pesticides, mold and mildew and may not be distributed if contaminants are found.

* There must be a strong security system in place.

* All product brought into and dispensed from the facility must be accounted for.

* The OHA will visit and inspect each dispensary and audit its financial records at least once a year.

With their designation as nonprofit resource centers, places like Nature’s Choice and Farmacy have been able to operate before March. They do not sell marijuana to cardholders coming in. Instead, growers, or “caregivers,” sign up to supply patients with excess marijuana, and patients reimburse growers directly.

Gonzalez said that in addition to products, he hopes to bring in a doctor who can prescribe medications, help patients pick out the right strain and teach about other natural medicines besides marijuana.

Not a pharmacy

Marquis said he believes that marijuana has legitimate medical uses, but that it should be distributed the same as other medicine: Through a pharmacy.

“I think the federal government should reclassify it as a Schedule 2 drug,” said Marquis, adding that his office spends little time prosecuting offenses relating to the drug.

“For these laws to work, they need to start at the federal level.”

Marquis said the dispensaries are not regulated in any way by law enforcement, adding that it’s become clear marijuana is making it to minors. “There’s no interface with law enforcement.”

He commended Seaside Police Chief Bob Gross for bringing dispensaries in Seaside into compliance. In January, the Seaside City Council pulled the business license for Puffin Tuff and reprimanded Highway 420 after Gross said a confidential informant made purchases of marijuana at the businesses without ID or an OMMP card. Highway 420 owner Steve Geiger denied that the confidential buy ever took place, adding that everyone must show a card.

Gary Reynolds said nobody from law enforcement, the city or the county has made contact with him. Meanwhile, he’s setting up such security measures as tinted windows, cameras looking 15 feet either way in front of his business, safes to keep the marijuana in and automatically locking doors.

Marquis said he and Bergin, who was not available for comment, will attend a March 26 Clatsop County Commission meeting to recommend that the county instill a moratorium. He said they’re also planning “knock-and-talks” to communicate with potential dispensaries.

This story originally appeared in Daily Astorian.