SAN DIEGO — San Diego gave final approval on Thursday to the city’s first legal marijuana dispensary, which will be run by an HIV-positive San Diego State lecturer who smokes pot daily to relieve his symptoms.

It will be the first legal dispensary to operate in the city since California voters approved the use of medical marijuana in 1996. Located near the Otay Mesa international border, it’s expected to open in early March.

San Diego joins nearly 50 other cities across the state that allow legal medical marijuana dispensaries, but it will be the only city in this county to allow them. The county government, however, allowed a dispensary to open last summer on the outskirts of El Cajon.

The Planning Commission unanimously approved the Otay dispensary on Thursday after nearly three hours of testimony. Three other legal dispensaries in San Diego are scheduled to receive their final approvals on March 12, one in Clairemont, one in San Ysidro and one in the Midway district near the Valley View Casino arena. [Read more at U-T San Diego]