Pot shop approval budding?

November 4, 2011

San Luis Obispo County planning officials Thursday approved an application to open a medical marijuana collective in Oceano, but more authoritative opposition may be firing up.

The 4-1 vote marked the second time the Planning Commission has approved such a facility. Last year, a planned store in Templeton got the nod. But a pair of appeals were subsequently upheld by the Board of Supervisors, which has extinguished three such proposals in the past five years.

Tammy Murray argued for her Compassionate Cannabis Information Center, but Commissioner Tim Murphy, who represents the area in question, cast the lone opposing vote after raising the usual issues of location and federal prohibition.

Sheriff’s officials echoed those concerns, contending that an expensive increase in patrol capability would be needed.

If a medical pot facility should eventually be approved, it would be the first in SLO County since 2007. That was when local sheriff’s deputies and a bevy of federal officers raided Charles C. Lynch’s Morro Bay facility and arrested him. Lynch was later convicted in federal court and sentenced to a year in prison.