FRESNO TRIES NEW TACK ON POT SHOPS

City Goes After Landlords, Asks Them To Evict Dispensaries.

Fresno is taking a new approach in its effort to keep medical
marijuana dispensaries from opening up in the city: going after the landlords.

The city is asking property owners to evict the dispensaries. In
return, the city will end legal action against them.

Fresno attorney Richard Runcie, who is representing two dispensaries
- -- Earthsource and Central Valley Collective -- accused the city of
trying to do "an end run" around the legal proceedings by "trying to
scare the landlords."

Doug Sloane, an assistant city attorney, disagreed.

The city of Fresno has sued nine dispensaries, their owners and the
landlords housing them, and is asking a Fresno County Superior Court
judge to order the dispensaries closed. The city argues the
dispensaries violate city ordinances that require such businesses to
adhere to both state and federal laws.

Although California voters in 1996 passed an initiative permitting
medical marijuana use in the state, federal law still considers
marijuana possession a crime.

The landlords -- who were named in the city's legal action along with
the dispensaries -- have approached the city about settling the legal
action. The city is willing, Sloan said, if the property owner
cancels the lease and agrees not to allow dispensaries on any
properties they own in Fresno.

Sloan mentioned the city's new effort Thursday in Fresno County
Superior Court, where a planned hearing was delayed.

The reason for the delay: the court couldn't determine whether all
the parties involved in the city's legal action -- businesses,
business owners and landlords -- had been notified of the hearing.

A frustrated Judge Alan Simpson scheduled another hearing for Oct. 8.
In doing so, he indicated that he was leaning in favor of Fresno's position.

Earlier this year, Attorney General Eric Holder said federal agents
would stop raiding medical marijuana distributors that comply with
their state laws.

After Holder's announcement, new dispensaries popped up around the
state, prompting a concerted effort to stop their spread, Runcie
said. He said the League of California Cities has become a "brief
bank" for its members, sharing information on shutting down the dispensaries.

One of the legal tactics is to "scare" the landlords, he said.

Sloan, however, suggested many landlords were unaware that they
leased their property to a dispensary. That alone is grounds to
cancel a lease, he said.

One of those landlords was Antonio Parra, who owns a property in the
1000 block of North Abby, where a dispensary is operating.

A baffled Parra drove down from the Bay Area, still unclear what the
legal summons meant. One thing is certain, he said: His tenants will
be evicted.

He said they told him they would be operating "farmers' offices."

Fresno attorney Michael McGinnis, who is representing Compassionate
Outreach, said the city is infringing on constitutional rights of
individuals "under the guise of enforcing a zoning statute. It's sinister."

Added Sean Dwyer, the owner of California Herbal Relief Center, a
Tower District dispensary: "The city trying to get this injunction to
shut us down, even though we are in compliance with state law. They
made that ordinance specifically to ban medical marijuana
dispensaries in the city."