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Last week's state Supreme Court's decision to dismiss a closely watched medical marijuana case has left no clear path for Vallejo, the city attorney said Friday.
"We are on a holding pattern awaiting a clearer direction from the California Supreme Court," City Attorney Claudia Quintana said.
The case, Pack v. Long Beach, was filed in 2010 by two medical marijuana patients to challenge the city's attempts to regulate and permit dispensaries. The state's high court dismissed it on Aug. 22, on what were largely technical grounds.
Vallejo and other cities had been watching the case as potentially precedent-setting about which powers municipalities have in regulating dispensaries.
Vallejo, which has experienced a growth in the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in recent years, has no established regulations for the industry. With mixed results, the city has relied on its zoning code, which does not describe medical marijuana dispensaries as a permitted use, to restrict the dispensaries' proliferation.
Last year, the Vallejo City Council agreed to begin a three-pronged approach to dispensaries, including taxation, regulation and stepped-up enforcement of state laws.
However, the city's plans to draft regulations stopped shortly after Long Beach was taken to court over its medical marijuana regulations.
Quintana said Vallejo should not see the Pack v. Long Beach case ruling as clear direction, even "while many medical marijuana advocates are claiming that the California Supreme Court dismissal of Pack is a "win" for them."
"...the dismissal was due to reasons not related to the merits: Basically appellants dropped their federal preemption arguments, which led to the dismissal," Quintana wrote in an email. "However the dismissal left the appellate court's decision in place and Long Beach's ordinance completely prohibiting medical marijuana dispensaries in place unchallenged.
"So, who actually won is debatable," Quintana wrote. "Of course the California Supremes are considering a host of other MMD (medical marijuana dispensary-) related cases which will be decided later this year or early next, which we hope will give more clarity to this issue."
Long Beach repealed its permit scheme and began banning collectives with more than three people after an appeals court ruled against it in October -- forcing the plantiffs' attorney to abandon his original argument that Long Beach was violating federal law.
"The legal validity of (the permit law) is therefore moot," justices said in announcing the dismissal. "The legal validity of (the ban) has not been considered at any prior stage of this proceeding, and is not ripe for review by this court."
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: timesheraldonline.com
Author: Jessica York
Contact: Contact Us - Vallejo Times Herald
Website: Vallejo in 'holding pattern' over setting medical marijuana regs - Vallejo Times Herald
"We are on a holding pattern awaiting a clearer direction from the California Supreme Court," City Attorney Claudia Quintana said.
The case, Pack v. Long Beach, was filed in 2010 by two medical marijuana patients to challenge the city's attempts to regulate and permit dispensaries. The state's high court dismissed it on Aug. 22, on what were largely technical grounds.
Vallejo and other cities had been watching the case as potentially precedent-setting about which powers municipalities have in regulating dispensaries.
Vallejo, which has experienced a growth in the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in recent years, has no established regulations for the industry. With mixed results, the city has relied on its zoning code, which does not describe medical marijuana dispensaries as a permitted use, to restrict the dispensaries' proliferation.
Last year, the Vallejo City Council agreed to begin a three-pronged approach to dispensaries, including taxation, regulation and stepped-up enforcement of state laws.
However, the city's plans to draft regulations stopped shortly after Long Beach was taken to court over its medical marijuana regulations.
Quintana said Vallejo should not see the Pack v. Long Beach case ruling as clear direction, even "while many medical marijuana advocates are claiming that the California Supreme Court dismissal of Pack is a "win" for them."
"...the dismissal was due to reasons not related to the merits: Basically appellants dropped their federal preemption arguments, which led to the dismissal," Quintana wrote in an email. "However the dismissal left the appellate court's decision in place and Long Beach's ordinance completely prohibiting medical marijuana dispensaries in place unchallenged.
"So, who actually won is debatable," Quintana wrote. "Of course the California Supremes are considering a host of other MMD (medical marijuana dispensary-) related cases which will be decided later this year or early next, which we hope will give more clarity to this issue."
Long Beach repealed its permit scheme and began banning collectives with more than three people after an appeals court ruled against it in October -- forcing the plantiffs' attorney to abandon his original argument that Long Beach was violating federal law.
"The legal validity of (the permit law) is therefore moot," justices said in announcing the dismissal. "The legal validity of (the ban) has not been considered at any prior stage of this proceeding, and is not ripe for review by this court."
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: timesheraldonline.com
Author: Jessica York
Contact: Contact Us - Vallejo Times Herald
Website: Vallejo in 'holding pattern' over setting medical marijuana regs - Vallejo Times Herald
