Pubdate: Thu, 1 Jul 2010
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2010 Chico Enterprise-Record
Contact: http://www.chicoer.com/feedback
Website: http://www.chicoer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/861
Note: Letters from newspaper's circulation area receive publishing priority
Authors: Greg Welter and Toni Scott

POLICE RAID LOCAL POT DISPENSARIES

More than 100 personnel from law enforcement agencies throughout
Northern California converged on Butte County Wednesday to serve
search warrants on storefront marijuana dispensaries.

Businesses in Chico, Forest Ranch, Magalia, and the Sacramento County
town of Rio Lindo were entered by teams of officers who reportedly
confiscated cannabis, other products, financial records, computers,
Proposition 215 verifications and, in some cases, cash.

Search warrants were also served at 11 residences with connections to
the cooperatives.

The operator of a Chico area dispensary said the officers were
courteous for the most part, and said he was told by an officer that
the Butte County District Attorney was investigating possible crimes
in the way the cooperatives were operating.

A press release from Chico Police Chief Mike Maloney said officials
are particularly concerned about the way marijuana was sold to walk-in
customers, many of whom were undercover officers participating in the
investigation.

The Chico dispensary operator said he was always careful to verify the
legitimacy of Proposition 215 recommendations, and never allowed
customers to use marijuana in or around the store.

Maloney said there were no arrests Wednesday in direct connection with
the dispensaries. He said one man found at a cooperative in Forest
Ranch was discovered to be a felon in possession of a firearm and
taken into custody on suspicion of a parole violation.

Following the warrant searches, code enforcement officers from Chico
and Butte County called on operators to inform them they were in
violation of zoning codes. Maloney wasn't sure if the operators were
given cease and desist warnings, but at least two dispensaries the
Enterprise-Record attempted to reach by telephone Wednesday had
recordings stating they were closed until further notice.

Maloney said it appears from an initial investigation that most or all
of the dispensaries are operating "beyond the scope of
legitimacy."

"It's also abundantly clear that all are in violation of zoning
ordinances," he said.

Maloney said the search warrants phase of the operation concluded
Wednesday, but the investigation will be ongoing and involve his
department and the Special Operations Unit of the Butte County
Sheriff's Office. He said there were carloads of evidence and it could
take weeks or months to sort through it.

An impromptu meeting of cooperative operators was planned for
Wednesday in Chico to discuss the raid and possible legal action.

An ordinance that would lay the foundation for medical marijuana
dispensaries to legitimately exist within Chico's city limits is
currently in the pipeline of the local public policy process.

The council reviewed a draft of the ordinance in May, with the
Planning Commission expected to consider the ordinance Aug. 5.

For months, Chico lobbyist Max Del Real has been working on behalf of
Citizen Collective -- a proposed Chico medical marijuana dispensary --
to ensure the successful passage of the ordinance.

He said Wednesday's raids only further exemplify the need for the city
to continue moving forward on the matter.

"This unfortunate situation that has unfolded today lends itself to
the serious and pressing nature of having an ordinance in place that
governs safe access for qualified patients," Del Real said Wednesday.
"I think if anything, we have a new responsibility to work harder to
get it right."

Del Real does not represent any of the dispensaries that were raided,
but said he was opposed to the manner in which they were shut down.

"I see it as a very out-of-touch approach to dealing with a public
nuisance issue," Del Real said.

Chico resident and medical marijuana user Kris Kidd
agreed.

Although Kidd, a Proposition 215 cardholder, does not procure her
medicine from any local dispensary, she called Wednesday's raids a
"tragedy" for those who do. In a statement to the Enterprise-Record in
May, one local dispensing collective owner estimated his customer base
to be 460 local residents.

Kidd said there are certainly hundreds of local medical marijuana
users who rely on Chico's dispensaries.

"It just feels like a kick in the gut that this would happen in our
community," Kidd said. "Now we're going to have people who are going
to be in pain."

She said the raids were not unexpected, but added that if the city had
moved forward on an ordinance sooner, the raids might not have been
necessary.

"Ultimately, the lag time on the ordinance is really to blame here,"
Kidd said. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake