Pubdate: Sun, 28 Aug 2016
Source: Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Ontario, CA)
Copyright: 2016 Los Angeles Newspaper Group
Contact:  http://www.dailybulletin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/871
Author: Liset Marquez

HOW UPLAND SHUT DOWN 24 MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES SINCE 2014

UPLAND - At least once a week, commercial real estate agent Tom 
Mitchell said he is approached by operators of medical marijuana 
dispensaries looking to open up shop in town.

The problem is, such enterprises are illegal in Upland and have been 
for several years.

To skirt around the problem, the operators often offer to pay three 
times the asking rent and six months' security deposit. Some are 
willing to pay any legal fees they may incur, said Mitchell, who 
manages three commercial properties in Upland with about 100 tenants.

"They will say and do anything to get in here," he said. "We're any easy mark."

Police Chief Brian Johnson is well aware of the situation. When he 
became the city's top cop in April 2014, there were about six 
operating illegally. Today, that number fluctuates anywhere from eight to 12.

"We will close one or two down and one will pop up," he said.

Since 2014, Upland has closed 24 illegal dispensaries.

In a recent sit-down at City Hall, Johnson and interim City Manager 
Martin Thouvenell outlined current and pending practices aimed at 
eliminating the public nuisance.

"Police and everybody else in the city is diligently pursuing these 
business and trying to eliminate them as fast as we can. It's very 
difficult, and I think what we're doing is kind of setting the 
standards for other cities," Thouvenell said.

Under the city's current business permitting process, the maximum 
fine Upland can impose is about $25,000.

Thouvenell said he's working with staff and the police department to 
change that, with the possibility of instituting daily fines that can 
compound each day the illegal business is in operation.

Upland, Johnson said, he started to take a proactive approach in 
shuttering these illegal operation - although that might not always 
seem like the case.

It's a cumbersome process, Johnson said.

"The city has to follow the rules of the law and get a court order," 
he said. "For criminal cases, there are certain protocols that we set 
up and agreed to with the county District Attorney's Office. We have 
to meet those thresholds of what they want done in terms of 
presenting a criminal case for filing."

Johnson devised an aggressive approach by talking to his undercover 
narcotics task force, code enforcement officers, the city attorney as 
well as having meetings with the San Bernardino County District 
Attorney and chief deputy district attorney out of the Rancho 
Cucamonga office to really come up with a strategy.

Now getting a dispensary to cease operations involves a cooperative 
effort from several city departments. The city is dealing with the 
dispensary in three different ways: first administratively with 
citations, which oftentimes are turned over to the county District 
Attorney for criminal prosecution. Finally, the city attorney files 
for a civil injunction.

"The will of the people is that we have a total ban on medical 
marijuana dispensaries and so we are going to continue on that 
approach: administrative, civil and criminal fines," Johnson said.

Upland will use those three approaches concurrently.

Since Johnson became police chief, Upland has collected $250,000 from 
illegal medical marijuana dispensaries through judgments, settlements 
or court orders.

"I'm very serious about recouping the cost to the taxpayers. More 
importantly, this city has demonstrated they do not want medical 
marijuana dispensaries, at least to date," he said.

Johnson declined to say how many in the police force or staff are 
working on building these cases against dispensaries.

The time that passes from the city is notified about an illegal 
operation to when the doors are shut at a dispensary is unclear. No 
one in the city wants to get into the exact details. Both Thouvenell 
and Johnson declined to state because of pending litigation.

When a case gets turned over to the city attorney's office, it takes 
about a week for the city to get a temporary restraining order, the 
city attorney's office said.

If the business does not shut down, then Upland will seek a warrant. 
To this date, every case Upland has taken up for a civil injunction 
matter, the court has issued permanent injunctions, as well ordering 
the defendant to pay the city its legal fees.

As for the items found at the dispensaries, the city can seize the 
property, the city attorney's office said.

Litigation doesn't seem to deter operators or repeat offenders from 
returning to Upland.

In late December, the undercover narcotics team served a search 
warrant in a medical office near San Antonio Regional Hospital and 
the very next day the business was back open. The day it reopened, 
the undercover narcotics team had to secure another search warrant 
and another court order to shut it down again.

Johnson said he just learned a medical marijuana dispensary has 
reopened less than a year after a court order banished it from Upland.

"It goes to demonstrate how lucrative this business or enterprise is, 
in terms of the money that they're making, and so they are going to 
take a chance and continue to operate," he said.

What kind of money? At one operation police seized more than $20,000 
in cash, he said.

As part of his tough stance on dispensaries, Johnson sent out a 
letter to property owners, every business and to major real estate 
brokerage firms, informing them it is illegal to rent to medical 
marijuana dispensaries.

Some of the offenders have been what Johnson described as "mom and 
pop" property owners duped by the pot shop operators. It appears a 
collective is operating on the property of the now iconic defunct 
Buffalo Inn on Foothill Boulevard. A makeshift sign helps patients 
find "Dank City," a medical marijuana dispensary located behind the 
former restaurant and tavern.

Although he didn't directly respond to the status of that business, 
Johnson did say "every medical marijuana dispensary that the Upland 
Police Department is aware of is under official investigation."

Commercial real estate agent Mitchell said the city is facing a long battle.

"I've been in Los Angeles, in San Diego and when they hear I'm from 
the Upland area, they know us. We have a reputation of being easy," 
Mitchell told the Planning Commission on Wednesday night.

Mitchell said there needs to be a point when it becomes too costly to 
operate in the city.

"Right now, it's totally worth it to them," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom