The would-be owner of a proposed medical marijuana clinic in Nipomo said Wednesday he will go forward with his plans despite the near unanimous opposition he faced at a community meeting Monday night.
“It’s only a recommendation,” said Robert Brody of Los Angeles. “We can go forward” with the proposal to the county Planning and Building Department.
Brody wants to install the business in a 4,000-square-foot vacant warehouse and office building at 425B N. Frontage Road. Brent Gross of Carmel owns the property.
More than 100 people showed up a meeting of the South County Advisory Council to oppose the clinic. The issue has galvanized the South County community.
“It unified a lot of people,” said attorney Guy Murray, who opposes the clinic.
Murray said objections range from the size of the business, to the fear that it would attract unsavory people, to the worry that it would draw people from all over the county, which has no other medical marijuana clinic.
Brody, a retired businessman, told The Tribune last week he believes there are many people in the community who need the relief that medical marijuana can bring — people undergoing chemotherapy or suffering from glaucoma, for example.
“There are many people who can use it,” Brody said.
He said the alternative some doctors prescribe for relieving the same symptoms — a drug known as marinol that contains the same ingredients — costs $30 a pill.
Brody called the notion that medical marijuana dispensaries attract gangs “old wives’ tales.”
Bill Robeson of the Planning and Building Department said the proposal will be scheduled for a hearing before a planning department hearing officer, most likely in March or April.
Either side could appeal that decision to the Board of Supervisors, Robeson said.
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