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Silver Linings Playbook

The state Supreme Court ruling was a setback—here’s how to make lemonade out of lemons
 

Into every social movement some rain must fall.

For patients, that happened on May 6 when the California Supreme Court upheld the right of cities and counties to ban medical cannabis collectives operating in storefronts, known as

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The state Supreme Court ruling was a setback—here’s how to make lemonade out of lemons

 

Into every social movement some rain must fall.

For patients, that happened on May 6 when the California Supreme Court upheld the right of cities and counties to ban medical cannabis collectives operating in storefronts, known as dispensaries. Dozens of cities and counties like San Francisco and West Hollywood have regulated dispensaries, while many more jurisdictions ban them entirely. It’s been an issue of much legal contention, but the Justices unanimously agreed, “[State law] does not . . . mandate that local governments authorize, allow or accommodate the existence of such facilities.”

As a result, dozens of cannabis outlets—primarily in Southern California counties like San Bernardino and Orange—will be closed in the coming weeks. But as dark as these days may be, plenty of silver linings exist, watchers note. The People. v. Riverside decision benefits regulated outlets in safe cities, tenacious delivery services and can even be a boon to the MMJ movement as a whole.

 

BUSINESS BOOST

Leading medical cannabis lawyer Robert Raich notes that regulated dispensaries in safe cities like Oakland, West Hollywood and Venice will have a bumper crop of customers. “It will certainly be a win for them,” Raich says. “Patients will be coming from all over the state in order to obtain those medicines.”

Former Berkeley Patients Group operator and High Times Freedom Fighter of the Year Debby Goldsberry said patients would travel 60 miles to patronize the Berkeley club.

And smart, enterprising cities like Chico, Merced, South Lake Tahoe or Stockton can generate loads of sales taxes with the only safe access point in hostile territory, says Lanny Swerdlow, a Southern California MMJ activist.

 

ROLLING SERVICE

The verdict is also a boon to medical marijuana collectives that deliver, many agree. Delivery services lack the conspicuousness of a storefront, and can cross city lines into ban towns. “They’re more discreet and harder to threaten,” says Raich.

“That’s definitely the case,” says Don Duncan, a Los Angeles medical marijuana advocate.

“There is going to be an explosion,” Swerdlow says.

Increased delivery services will compete fiercely, and “the increased competition ends up being good for the [patient],” says the owner of Playbud Deliveries, serving the eastern Bay Area.

 

LEGAL CLARITY

The harsh verdict also serves up some much-needed legal clarity that can ultimately benefit the MMJ movement, Goldsberry says. For one, the verdict clearly indicates dispensaries are legal.

“It’s great to hear it from the Supreme Court,” Duncan says.

Not only are they legal, but their location is up to the discretion of local leaders, the court ruled, not President Obama or the state legislature, says San Diego activist Cynara Velazquez. “It clarifies that this is a local regulatory matter, that cities have the rights to make their own laws,” she says.

 

LOCAL FOCUS

In small local races, MMJ voters have already made the difference: electing cannabis-supporter Mayor Bob Filner in San Diego; and getting rid of MMJ-enemy Carmen Trutanich from his job as Los Angeles City Attorney. When the L.A. City Council tried to ban clubs, organized patients overturned the ban and installed regulations for 135 dispensaries in a city election May 21. Referendums are planned for Santa Ana and Riverside.

And the small Riverside Brownie Mary Democratic Club this May got the Riverside Democratic Central Committee to pass a resolution in support of statewide regulations on the industry. There are 57 such Democratic Central Committees in California that need a few MMJ folks to start a Brownie Mary Club and push the resolution, Swerdlow says. Such a show of broad, local, organized support gives politicians some backbone. “We need political clout,” he concludes. “Unless you want to live in a dry county.”

 

“Play the Game”

Activism starts at the local level—even ordinary citizens can participate. If patients want a dispensary in their town, it’s their job to elect leaders who’ll support clubs, recall leaders who don’t, run referendums to block bans and pass initiatives to install regulations at the ballot box, says MMJ activist Lanny Swerdlow. “We need to the play the game.”

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