Pubdate: Tue, 01 May 2012
Source: Desert Sun, The (Palm Springs, CA)
Copyright: 2012 The Desert Sun
Contact: http://local2.thedesertsun.com/mailer/opinionwrap.php
Website: http://www.mydesert.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1112
Author: Blake Herzog

RANCHO MIRAGE TO FILE APPEAL IN MEDICAL MARIJUANA CASE

RANCHO MIRAGE --- The city will file an appeal Tuesday to a Riverside 
County Superior Court judge's rulings which overturned its ban on 
medical marijuana dispensaries, City Attorney Steve Quintanilla said today.

He said the appeal will freeze the case and help the city turn back a 
new dispensary which has recently filed an application for a business 
license with the city.

"It imposes an immediate stay, so the burden is on the other side to 
try to get the stay lifted," Quintanilla said.

Rancho Mirage was sued in February 2011 by Desert Heart Collective, a 
medical marijuana collective which briefly opened a storefront 
dispensary in the city before it shut down under a city-adopted moratorium.

The City Council subsequently adopted a permanent ban on 
dispensaries, which was ruled invalid by Judge Randall White last 
October. In March the judge ordered the city to process an 
application for the certificate of occupancy

The city is appealing both these decisions.

Nathan Shaman, an attorney representing Desert Heart Collective, 
said, "We believe Judge White made the right decision on both issues 
and we expect that to be upheld on appeal."

Shaman disagreed that the appeal, to be filed with Division Two of 
California's Fourth District Court of Appeals, would put a stay on 
both of the issues involved.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom