JUDGE RULES AGAINST AUBURN MED-POT DISPENSARY

A court clash over a medical marijuana dispensary the city of Auburn
is seeking to close down has been postponed again.

But the city's cause has now been bolstered by a judge's tentative
ruling that supports its 1996 ban on pot dispensaries.

Judge Colleen Nichols issued the tentative ruling Monday, clearing
the way for arguments in the civil court case to be heard Tuesday
morning. Instead, however, Nichols postponed the session another week
so that she could hear what she described as an emergency criminal issue.

Richard Miller, president of the currently closed Sierra Patient and
Caregiver Exchange dispensary, said plans are to fight Monday's
tentative ruling.

The 750 Lincoln Way shop opened in the spring but was shuttered after
the city was granted a temporary restraining order by the court as it
moved to secure a more-binding preliminary injunction. Sierra Patient
contends state law allowing medicinal marijuana dispensaries trumps
local regulations like Auburn's.

The exchange "knew of the city's ordinances and nevertheless opened
their doors and began selling medical marijuana," Nichols stated in
her opinion. "The camel's nose approach to developing a 'status quo'
is disingenuous to the argument that they want to be treated like any
other business."