Stan Eby, 97, is stuck in a Catch-22. Unless he gets a permit for his cannabis club, the city of Vallejo will shut it down. But he can’t, because the city doesn’t issue them for medical marijuana dispensaries.

The city sued to shutter the club last week on the grounds that it is illegally operating within city limits.

“We’re just saying there’s a process on whether or not a particular business can operate in a certain area,” said Deputy City Attorney Alan Cohen.

Except that there sort of isn’t. The Vallejo planning commission and City Council have not issued rules for the medical marijuana retailers.

“The big shots that run the city seem to want to make that decision,” said Eby. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Based in a former pet hospital, Eby’s operation receives over 100 patients a day. It’s called Stan The Man Collective because, said Eby, “that’s my name” and “it just rhymes.”

According to the Vallejo Times Herald, the city's suit alleges “Stan The Man Collective” applied for a business license to operate an "organic natural herbs and vitamin sales" business.

Eby’s colleague Ken Estes said he tried to apply for a marijuana permit.

“They said, ‘we don’t have no medical marijuana license,’ so I said, ‘OK, give me this,’” Estes said.

The collective, which also tried to appeal to the zoning board, has spent $12,000 in process.

“They even cashed the check,” said Estes.

After the dispensary got the permit, a Vallejo police officer saw pot plants and told the manager that the operation was illegal, according to the Vallejo Times Herald.

According to legalmarijuanadispensary.com, a website that maps marijuana retailers, there are other medical pot outlets in the city.

Attorney Cohen said his office will likely bring cases against them, too.

In a hearing Wednesday, a judge said that said the city is likely to prevail over Stan The Man Collective, but pushed the decision back for two weeks.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Stan The Man Collective applied for a permit after a Vallejo police officer reported it as an illegal operation. This version has been corrected. See all corrections.