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Tacoma Tells Co-Ops To Stop Dispensing Medical Marijuana
TACOMA, Wash. -- The city of Tacoma has told eight co-ops to stop dispensing medical marijuana, based on the city??s interpretation of state law, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News has learned.

The city??s claim, detailed in a letter sent out to the co-ops last week, is that the co-ops are acting illegally by dispensing marijuana to more than one person. The city claims that under state law, a designated provider of medical marijuana can only help one patient at any one time.

"?In these businesses, that??s not the case; it??s a business supplying it to many patients," said Rob McNair-Huff a city spokesman.

But Jay Berneburg, a lawyer for The C.O.B.R.A. Medical Group, one of the co-ops targeted by the city, has disputed that claim and said the co-op is complying with both the letter and the intent of the law.

Every patient who comes in to C.O.B.R.A. signs a form designating C.O.B.R.A. as their provider, Berneburg said. After receiving their marijuana, the patients immediately sign the form again, removing C.O.B.R.A. as their provider.

"And that means the designated provider who can only be a designated provider to any one person at a time is now available to be somebody else??s designated provider," Berneburg said.

Tacoma has told the co-ops that if they don??t stop dispensing marijuana by Oct. 24, they could face fines or criminal prosecution.

C.O.B.R.A. deals with about 800 patients, Berneburg said.

"These people are real medical patients; their history is documentable," said Emiel Kandi with C.O.B.R.A. "We verify all of them in writing with their doctors."

Thousands more people could be affected if the co-ops were to be shut down, KIRO 7 was told. Many of them are planning a rally at the next city council meeting, at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

"They??ve drawn the line in the sand, they??ve declared war and I choose to accept the gauntlet," Kandi said.

C.O.B.R.A. and the other co-ops have 10 days to appeal the order.

Tacoma Tells Co-Ops To Stop Dispensing Medical Marijuana - News Story - KIRO Seattle