Plans for marijuana store go up in smoke

Days after it opened, Yuba County's first medical marijuana store was closed by county officials who said the store ran afoul of the state's medical marijuana law.

Yuba County District Attorney Patrick McGrath said he summoned the Marysville Healing Center's owner, Chander Sidher, to a meeting a week ago that included Yuba County Sheriff Steve Durfor. The purpose was to set Sidher straight regarding what circumstances such an operation could open.

On the heels of that meeting, Sidher decided to close his doors, which remained closed in the North Beale Road strip mall this week where he hoped to grow.

McGrath said statements Sidher made to the Appeal-Democrat in a story on July 1 indicated he might not be aware of how such a store could open.

Specifically, McGrath said state law requires such operations to be part of a collective or cooperative, where those operating a retail outlet also must be involved in the growing, cultivation and other aspects of producing medical marijuana.

"We have a number of people operating in Yuba County as collectives or cooperatives, but they do it pretty quietly," McGrath said.

As well, Sidher's statements about using money from the store to help upgrade his North Beale Road surroundings in Linda run afoul of law that requires such outlets to be nonprofit, McGrath said.

"I told him, 'Regardless of what your intentions are, your intentions aren't going to cut it,'" McGrath said. "If you are acting within the law, Proposition 215 does give you a defense."

McGrath said if Sidher or someone else is able to meet those conditions, they can open such an operation within the county.

But a medical marijuana advocate in Sacramento who's working with Sidher said McGrath is interpreting the law wrongly.

"We're doing everything we can to fight it," said the man, who did not give his name. He answered a phone number posted at the former store site in Linda as another location for medical marijuana.

The man said McGrath and Durfor had threatened to arrest Sidher if he kept the store open.

McGrath said he did not tell Sidher that.

Sidher could not be reached Wednesday or Thursday to discuss the matter.

The man at the Sacramento-area collective said the store opened last week but closed Friday after the meeting with McGrath and Durfor.

McGrath said he was unconcerned about being challenged over whether the store could legally open.

"Essentially, if they want to bring a legal challenge, they would open a dispensary and want to play a game of legal chicken," he said. "We're more than happy to allow them to do that, as long as they do so with their eyes wide open."

Yuba County Supervisor Andy Vasquez, who represents Linda, opposed the store and said his constituents wondered about the location.

"One of the biggest questions was, 'Why Linda?'" Vasquez said.

"I don't think it's beneficial to Linda at all," the county supervisor said.

The Marysville Healing Center would have been the first medical marijuana store in the Mid-Valley. Yuba City leaders

have passed an ordinance banning such stores in that city.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Ben van der Meer at 749-4709 or bvandermeer @appealdemocrat.com. Reporter Ryan McCarthy contributed to this report.