L.A. County’s Ban Declared Unconstitutional

L.A. City Follows by Enacting Another Illegal Ban?!?

The month of July was a busy month for medical marijuana legal news in Los Angeles. On July 2, the Court of Appeal for the 2nd District (Los Angeles) issued its ruling in the case of County of Los Angeles v. Alternative Medicinal Cannabis Collective. The Court held that the Los Angeles County ban on medical marijuana collectives was unconstitutional because it was “preempted,” or trumped, by California state law which allows collective cultivation of medical marijuana. The county had been ticketing and fining collectives in the unincorporated areas of the county, basing the tickets and fines on the ban.

This case is a big win for collectives, but it may be short-lived. The County of Los Angeles will likely petition the Supreme Court of California to review this case. If the Supreme Court picks this case up for review, then it will no longer be “good law” and collectives will not be able to use this case in court to defend against civil public nuisance actions which are being filed by various cities and counties right now in our state. The Supreme Court is currently reviewing several other key medical marijuana cases and we expect a ruling in approximately one year.

If the case is not reviewed by the Supreme Court, it will be a huge win for collectives as it will signal how the Supreme Court will likely rule on the other cases, i.e. that cities and counties cannot ban collectives. If the case is not reviewed by the Supreme Court, then the County of Los Angeles states that its illegal ban will revert back to its prior ordinance, which actually allowed medical marijuana collectives, but required them to first apply for and obtain a “Certificate of Occupancy,” which would allow the use to be for a medical marijuana collective. The problem here is that the county has not issued any Certificates of Occupancy and several of our clients who have applied for one have either been denied or are still waiting for their application “to be processed.” Whether or not the county enforces its ordinance and starts filing lawsuits against collectives remains to be seen. Presently, it is fining collectives and landlords who lease to dispensaries. However, we are unaware of any lawsuits filed by the county to actually collect on the tickets.

Less than a month after the County ban was declared unconstitutional, the City of Los Angeles City Council voted 14-0 to pass its own illegal ban on medical marijuana collectives. This ban will likely cause many collectives to file their own lawsuits against the city challenging this new ban, using the County of Los Angeles’ ruling to challenge the ban. It has been reported the city will likely start sending cease-and-desist letters to all of its collectives and their landlords, threatening civil or criminal action if the collectives do not cease operations. We do not believe the city has the money or resources to spend on filing hundreds of lawsuits against collectives and believe the city will use extortion and scare tactics to try and get the landlords to do its dirty work for them. The ban also appears to be a political move to advance careers as the city could have sued all Post-ICOs (collectives started after Sept 2007) under the ordinance they already had in place before the ban.

We believe that the Supreme Court will ultimately rule that cities and counties cannot ban collectives but instead can regulate them and impose reasonable restrictions on their operations. However, until the Supreme Court rules, expect more litigation in Los Angeles. If enough taxpayers money is wasted on litigation, maybe at some point down the road, the city will be convinced to enact sensible medical marijuana collective regulations.

Attorney Damian Nassiri is the founding partner of the Cannabis Law Group, a law firm dedicated to the rights of patients, collectives and growers. His firm offers consultations and nonprofit incorporations to those who are interested in starting their own medical marijuana collective. You can reach Cannabis Law Group at (714) 937-2050 or visit the law firm’s website at www.cannabislawgroup.com.