Legal News

CA Court of Appeals leaves med-marijuana decisions to cities

By Richard Binder

Last Tuesday the California Court of Appeal published an opinion upholding a lower court's injunction stopping a medical marijuana dispensary from operating in Los Angeles County. In that case, the city of Claremont issued a moratorium preventing the issuance of a business license or other approvals for medical marijuana dispensaries as uses not permitted under the city's zoning ordinance.

Earlier last week in Lake Forest messengers began delivering 35 civil complaints against property owners and tenants connected to 14 medical marijuana dispensaries in the city. The city hopes to shut down the shops.

Pot dispensary advocates argued almost two weeks ago at the Lake Forest City Council that that cities did not have the right to regulate or ban dispensaries because the Compassionate Use Act allows persons to use marijuana for certain medicinal uses. But Jeffrey Dunn, an attorney with Best, Best and Krieger who is handling the cases for Lake Forest, said that the Compassionate Use Act has the purpose to exempt certain people with specific medical conditions from violating state criminal law. He added that federal law still forbids marijuana use.

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Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on September 28, 2009 (boomark / email).