CHICO COPS REVOLT AGAINST POT ORDINANCE

The Medical-Marijuana Law Will Allow for Two Dispensaries, but Police
Say It Violates Federal Law

Last week the Chico Police Officers Association (CPOA) sent a letter
to the Chico City Council saying in no uncertain terms that police
officers will not recognize the city's recently adopted ordinance on
the cultivation and distribution of medical marijuana.

That ordinance, which was adopted on July 5 and is set to go into
place the first week of August, includes the allowance of two
dispensaries up to 10,000 square feet in size within the city limits.
That provision has been brought to the attention of federal law
enforcement, which does not recognize the state's medical-marijuana
law.

Will Clark, CPOA's special-projects coordinator, points out in the
letter that all Chico police officers are required to take an oath
prior to their employment with the city, but that oath includes a
promise to support both the city charter and the U.S. Constitution.
The letter goes on to point out that the city's municipal code says a
function of the Police Department is to "Prevent crime and maintain
law and order in the city by enforcing the laws of the United States,
the state and the city."

At a press conference held in front of council chambers on the day the
letter was delivered, Clark said, "We are understaffed and this
ordinance will only bring more problems to the community."

It's not the only letter to the council questioning the
ordinance.

A few days before the council approved the ordinance, Mayor Ann Schwab
received a letter from U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner, who said he had
concerns with it-particularly those relatively large dispensaries. The
letter says his office will "vigorously" enforce federal laws against
those involved in the manufacturing and distribution of marijuana,
even if such activity is permitted under state law.

At that council meeting, Schwab and Councilmen Mark Sorensen and Bob
Evans pulled the ordinance from the consent agenda, where it was set
to be passed. They all had objected to the size of the dispensaries.
The matter was discussed and then passed on a split vote of the
council, with Schwab, Sorensen and Evans remaining in opposition.

City Attorney Lori Barker said her office has always been up front
with both the council and the public that the ordinance is a land-use
issue and may not meet state or federal laws. And in reality, she
said, the police do not enforce land-use regulations; that job is up
to the city's code-enforcement officers.

That hasn't deterred the CPOA, which has been at odds with the council
since last fall when the city asked all employee bargaining units,
including the police, to take a 5 percent cut in pay, switch
health-insurance companies and pay for more of their job benefits.

All but the police union agreed. As a result, the city laid off five
officers, and the contract negotiations went to an arbitrator. During
those tense days, the CPOA put out postcards featuring the faces of
the council members the union saw as against them. A compromise was
reached at the beginning of the year and the officers were rehired,
but bad blood remained. Some of the targeted council members saw the
postcards as wanted posters.

Councilman Jim Walker was angered by the CPOA letter and the press
conference.

"I know they have concerns about enforcing federal law," he said. "I
wish they'd had the decency to call me up and say, 'We have concerns
about this.' I would have given them a sympathetic ear."

Walker doesn't disagree with the CPOA's message, but he doesn't
appreciate its medium.

"They just use poor judgment in the way they go about expressing these
things," he said. "The leaders of the Chico Police Officers
Association are playing politics. I'm talking about the leaders, not
the department. They are outstanding, but the leadership does them no
good."

Walker noted how during the last month the medical-marijuana issue has
evolved statewide, with threats from the federal government putting
people, including city staff, at risk of prosecution.

"That was not so evident when we first made the decision, but now it
sure is," he said.

City Manager Dave Burkland said he understands the CPOA
concerns.

"In the bigger picture they are just sharing their concerns about
their potential involvement," he said. "But I completely agree with
Lori [Barker], as far as the police officers having little involvement
here. The police chief or someone from the management group would do
the background checks [on those applying to run the
dispensaries]."

Burkland said he met with U.S. Attorney Wagner a few weeks
ago.

"It was a pretty concerned tenor at the meeting, and you got the
feeling that this was not just a casual reminder here," he said.

"They take it as an insult that we're adopting an ordinance that
allows for 10,000-square-foot dispensaries," he continued. "In
Oakland, they have 400,000-square-foot dispensaries. Wagner said his
office was getting a lot of pressure from Washington, D.C., to do something."

The ordinance is set to go into effect Aug. 4, two days after the next
council meeting. At that meeting, the panel has a number of options to
consider. It can go ahead and adopt a fee schedule to implement the
ordinance, not implement it, repeal it entirely or modify it.