Court Rejects Permit for Pot Outlet

The operator of a Thousand Oaks pot outlet lost her bid in court Friday to obtain an occupancy permit for her medical marijuana business.

But she said that ultimately--though it may take some time--the city will have to give her one.

“[The city] was telling me that they have to follow state guidelines,” said Andrea Nagy, the 28-year-old legal secretary who operates the Ventura County Medical Cannabis Center in Thousand Oaks.

“But they are going to make it tough every step of the way. I’m not sure why they are targeting sick people. That’s kind of sick itself.”

She added that she is concerned she is being allowed to operate without a certificate of occupancy.

Thousand Oaks Deputy City Atty. Jim Friedl said Friday’s Superior Court decision in Ventura does not change anything. The city already had grounds to shut Nagy’s pot outlet down if it wanted to, he said.

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The city has not issued an occupancy permit, officials have said, because local zoning laws do not specifically allow such an establishment in that area.

“Legally, she could have been shut down all along,” Friedl said, adding that the city has chosen to focus on regulating such businesses, rather than closing Nagy’s establishment.

Last month, the City Council decided not to pass a 45-day moratorium on medicinal marijuana outlets. That decision also has kept the city from shutting the center down.

“We’ve felt like we would have had clear direction with four out of five council members voting for the moratorium,” Friedl said. “But we didn’t get that.”

Councilwoman Elois Zeanah--who voted against the moratorium--said at that time that she did not want to invite a lawsuit against the city.

“I don’t want us to step on legal quicksand, and I believe that by shutting down this club we are inviting litigation,” Zeanah said then.

As a result, Friedl said, the city has taken the same approach many other cities have taken: to officially ignore such establishments.

But that is becoming increasingly difficult to do, he said.

“She [Nagy] is pushing her agenda almost too hard,” Friedl said. “She is making it too obvious. Unfortunately, we are going to have to take steps to shut her down.”

Friedl added that he believes Nagy wants an occupancy permit so she can expand.

“With the occupancy permit, she can say, ‘Give me a building permit’ and turn this into a marijuana grow room,” Friedl said. “I think that is where she is going.”

Nagy, who says she smokes marijuana to ease the pain of chronic migraines, has said repeatedly that voters’ approval of Proposition 215 last year allows her to dispense marijuana for treatment of medical conditions.

After getting a business license in September for her “pharmaceutical-related” storefront and then sitting through meetings with city officials, sheriff’s deputies and Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury, Nagy began distributing marijuana out of a Thousand Oaks strip mall in September.

Initially, she had about six clients, all of whom are required to have prescriptions for the marijuana. She now has 44 clients.

On Jan. 9, the U.S. attorney’s office in Northern California filed civil lawsuits against six clubs and their operators. The federal attorneys are seeking permanent injunctions to shut down medical dispensaries in San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Cruz, Ukiah and Marin.

The action stressed that although using medicinal pot is legal under state law, cultivation and distribution of marijuana are still illegal under federal law, which takes precedence.

The Times on Friday mistakenly characterized Nagy’s opinions on the Northern California lawsuit.

She said she does not want to be arrested in connection with the suit and that she is “happy that this issue will go before the juries in Northern California now that the government has initiated civil action.”

She also said that while she will not join the defendants in that case, she supports them--along with other clubs in Southern California.

The issue will be discussed next at the Jan. 27 Thousand Oaks City Council meeting. At that time, city officials will present a review of the zoning and safety issues that a medicinal marijuana outlet raises.