NEWS: Calif. Appeals Court Says No Federal Preemption on State-Authorized Cannabis Dispensaries

Following a long-awaited California appeals court decision on medical cannabis dispensaries, Americans for Safe Access has notified more than 140 local governments that their bans on distribution may violate state law. The letters were sent two weeks after California's Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled that federal law does not preempt the provisions of state law intended to facilitate uniform distribution of cannabis to patients across the state.

The unanimous decision reversed the trial court's ruling that federal law preempts state law, sending the case of Qualified Patients Association vs. City of Anaheim back to Orange County Superior Court for trial. The dispensary's attorney, Anthony Curiale, ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford, who argued the appeal, and Sen. Mark Leno, one of the principal co-authors of the state's Medical Marijuana Program Act (MMPA), have all told the court that the MMPA expressly prohibits local governments from banning collective distribution.

While nearly four-dozen California localities - including some of the most populous cities, such as Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, and San Francisco - have successfully implemented ordinances for medical marijuana dispensaries, more than 130 cities have imposed bans like Anaheim's.

Without ruling on the matter, the appeals court's decision questioned how "a city may criminalize as a misdemeanor a particular use of property the state expressly has exempted from 'criminal liability,'" as it does in the MMPA.

"We're disappointed that the court did not put an immediate end to hostile jurisdictions denying patients access to their medication," said Elford. "But at least the plaintiffs will have the opportunity to prove that dispensary bans are illegal under state law."

Qualified Patients Association was a local medical marijuana dispensary that had been in operation for five months prior to Anaheim officials instituting a ban in July, 2007. An Orange County Superior Court ruled, erroneously, that Anaheim could prohibit dispensaries from operating within its city limits because federal prohibition preempted California's medical cannabis law. That decision was appealed in March, 2008, and argued last September.

"Regulation of dispensaries, not bans, is what is consistent with state law," said Elford. "The Medical Marijuana Program Act, previous case law and guidelines issued by the California Attorney General are all on our side, and local officials can no longer hide behind federal preemption."

Source: Americans for Safe Access