California, Fresno

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Fresno City Council Overrides Mayor's Veto, Approves Pay Raise

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August 22, 2006 - From pay raises to pot, the Fresno City Council has made some major decisions today, but not without some controversy.

The Fresno City Council decided to override the mayor's veto and give future councilmembers a pay raise.

Last month, Mayor Alan Autry vetoed the measure to give councilmembers a 46% raise, bringing the pay to $65,000 a year.

The civil service board suggested a 9% raise.

The measure needed the approval of five council members, but this morning all seven members voted to override the mayors veto.

Current councilmembers will only get the raise if they're re-elected.

Along with pay raises, the city council also voted on allowing pot to be sold for medical use within city limits.

The dispensaries are allowed, but only if they meet strict guidelines.

The council decided to allow a new ordinance that would permit distribution of medical marijuana, only if the federal government allows it.

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Authorities still in a haze over medical marijuana

Published online on Saturday, Oct. 03, 2009
By Bill McEwen / The Fresno Bee


Thirteen years after California voters approved medical marijuana, we seem to be increasingly confused over how it should be sold -- or if it is even legal.

Until recently, medical marijuana dispensaries were rare. But two events triggered an explosion of outlets: state Attorney General Jerry Brown issued guidelines for sales of the drug last year, and the Obama administration said it wouldn't prosecute individuals complying with state medical marijuana laws.

These actions are forcing many cities throughout the state -- including Fresno -- to finally address the sale of medical marijuana instead of ignoring what the voters wrought in 1996.

Just four years ago, Los Angeles had four shops. Now there are more than 600. Reacting to citizen complaints of crime and blight brought on by the shops, the city attorney there is proposing tough new rules that would require dispensaries to grow their own marijuana in secured locations at least 1,000 yards from schools and parks.

Fresno didn't have a single shop until this year. By summer, a dozen dispensaries and two delivery services could be found on the Internet. Responding to public concerns about blight and sales to underage customers, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer started an effort to regulate medical marijuana by limiting sales to "collectives" in which the drug is grown and made available only to collective members.

In addition, Fresno is using its regulatory powers to shut down dispensaries, using an ordinance that requires medical marijuana sellers to comply with both state and federal laws. Despite U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's declaration that the feds would look the other way, federal law still regards the drug -- even when used for medical purposes -- as illegal.

And there is Oakland. The city set a limit of four dispensaries in 2004. Each dispensary pays $30,000 yearly for a license and gives the city $18 for every $1,000 in sales. Fortune magazine reported last month that the biggest shop -- think the super Wal-Mart of medical marijuana -- serves 600 customers a day and brings in $20 million a year.

Like I said, confusion abounds.

Fresno is seeking to shut down the Medmar medical marijuana clinic operated by Rick Morse and his son Brandon Morse, as well as other Fresno pot sellers.

Rick Morse says that the clinic is a nonprofit collective, doesn't purchase marijuana from nonmembers and was set up in "strict accordance" with the state attorney general's guidelines. He says for-profit dispensaries that obtain the drug from outside sources "give us all a black eye."

In arguing his case for remaining open, Morse says that he met every request made by the city planning department and points to a "congratulations on opening your business in the City of Fresno" letter sent to the clinic by downtown and community revitalization director Craig Scharton.

Adding to the confusion: when I asked city spokesman Michael Lukens about the crackdown, he said that it wasn't initiated by Mayor Ashley Swearengin's administration.

Dyer cleared things up a tad, saying that he was responsible.

"I sent an e-mail to the city manager [Andy Souza] saying that we needed to get a grip on this as a city," Dyer says. "If there are going to be cooperatives, they have to be for the use of the members only. That's perfectly legal.

"But dispensaries making profits are just an avenue for the drug cartels. They are fronts for illegal drug dealers."

Here's something else. Dyer, when he was president of the California Police Chiefs Association, was among law-enforcement officials who approached Brown and asked him to issue guidelines for medical marijuana shops.

"We explained the difficulty that law enforcement was in -- placed between state and federal law, different community standards and a lot of court challenges," Dyer says. "He agreed that his office would provide guidelines, not binding, but important to have."

The Morses will get their day in court Thursday. And Dyer says his department will go undercover to distinguish nonprofit cooperatives from dispensaries dishing out marijuana for profit.

"It will put a lot of strain on law enforcement as we move forward," Dyer says. "But, as a city, we should not be allowing or facilitating the illegal operations."

The columnist can be reached at bmcewen@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6632. His blog is at fresnobeehive.com. Listen to his talk show daily at noon on KYNO (AM 1300).