Community Corner

Court Ruling Bolsters Local Efforts to Ban Marijuana Dispensaries

A state Supreme Court decision could make it easier to enact such bans, but Seal Beach and Los Alamitos have had little problem with marijuana dispensaries.

A state Supreme Court ruling Monday upholding the city of Riverside's ban on storefront medical marijuana dispensaries will likely buttress similar ordinances, but don’t expect such bans in Seal Beach or Los Alamitos anytime soon.

Seal Beach Mayor Pro Tem Ellery Deaton called the court ruling a victory for local control but added that marijuana dispensaries have never been an issue in Seal Beach.

"I think anytime that the court allows a city and a neighborhood to make their own decisions about what they want to do in their city, that’s good day,” said Deaton.

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That said, Deaton added, there haven’t been efforts to open an dispensary in Seal Beach.

"As far as I know, we’ve never had an application for one," Deaton said. 

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She said the issue never came up when she was on the planning commission or the City Council. 

"I think it’s a non-issue for us, and we would address it if someone came forward, I guess," Deaton said.  

But until then, she said, "I don’t see any reason to pass laws for problems you don’t have."

Los Alamitos Mayor Warren Kusumoto said the ruling would give the city more leeway in carving out its own destiny. 

"Something that gives us more control will certainly be better," he said. 

Kusumoto said that he is not against medicinal use of marijuana, but he is against efforts to legalize the recreational use of the drug. 

Los Alamitos Councilman Dean Grose said the case spoke to issues of local control and whether "cities can determine what they want to do in terms of addressing those types of issues."

According to Steven Mendoza, city director of community development, Los Alamitos has had its share of inquiries but no official applicants. 

Mendoza said that if any applicants did apply for a business license their request would be denied ,"based on the fact that it's against federal law."

A handful of Orange County cities have been at the forefront of the legal battle to forbid dispensaries. Currently Lake Forest, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Beach and Dana Point have enacted bans. In all, about 200 jurisdictions throughout California have such bans on their books.

Lake Forest Mayor Scott Voigts hailed the ruling, which could affect the city's efforts to keep the Evergreen Holistic Collective closed.

"We are very pleased that the California Supreme Court has upheld the city's right to regulate the use of its land," Voigts said. "Throughout this journey, we have consistently championed local public safety and the city's right to enforce its zoning laws on behalf of the people of Lake Forest. We have worked hard to rid the community of illegal marijuana stores and are gratified our efforts have been validated."

Attorney David Welch, who represents Evergreen Holistic Collective, said the state high court's ruling may not fully apply to Evergreen.

"It's different in Evergreen," Welch said, adding that unlike in the Riverside case, marijuana at the Lake Forest dispensary was cultivated on site and no doctor was available to issue prescriptions.

Still, Welch said, the ruling on the Riverside case "will have an effect on how they rule on Evergreen."

Attorney Scott Smith, who represents Lake Forest, said he was "really pleased" with today's ruling.

"The decision was completely consistent with the Lake Forest worldview, which is that there's a body of state law (on medical marijuana), but it did not seem to deny traditional land use authority," Smith said. "The Supreme Court landed straight there."

City officials have the right to use local ordinances to regulate or ban the medical marijuana dispensaries and state law does not preempt that right, Smith said.

Smith argued that it doesn't matter whether marijuana was being cultivated on-site in the Evergreen collective.

"It's worse," Smith said of the marijuana cultivation. "And it's irrelevant whether it's cultivated or retail sales, etc., etc. The Supreme Court has left the authority to the cities."

In February of last year, a panel of Fourth District Court of Appeal justices in Santa Ana overturned a lower court judge's injunction shutting down Evergreen in May 2010.

The appellate justices in Santa Ana ruled that city officials may use their nuisance ordinance to regulate the dispensaries and collectives but couldn't simply declare them a nuisance, thereby banning them.

The state Supreme Court referred to a ruling from appellate justices in Santa Ana that sided with medical marijuana advocates challenging Anaheim's ordinances, Smith noted.

"They did acknowledge the local ruling in Anaheim was wrong," Smith said.

The state high court's 44-page ruling was in response to an appeal by Inland Empire Patients Health and Wellness Center Inc., which sought to challenge zoning regulations put in place by Riverside, which prohibited cannabis clubs or collectives from operating outlets where individuals with prescriptions for medical marijuana could purchase the substance.

The Riverside case was argued in February.

Five other cases stemming from challenges to regulations against medical marijuana dispensaries are pending before the court.

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-- City News Service contributed to this report.


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