Pubdate: Thu, 16 Jan 2014
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.
Author: Kristina Davis

COURT SAYS FEDS CAN POLICE POT COLLECTIVES

Panel Rules Against Dispensary Owners

SAN DIEGO - An appeals court on Wednesday upheld the federal
government's right to crack down on California medical marijuana
dispensaries complying with state law.

The unpublished ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals addresses a lawsuit from four San Diego dispensaries
and a patient, as well as separate but similar suits in Sacramento and
the Bay Area.

In the appeal, the lawyers for the dispensaries argued that the
federal raids violated their constitutional rights.

The court cited a prior 2007 ruling in rejecting the
argument.

Preventing federal enforcement "would compromise a governmental
interest in enforcing the law and would therefore be inappropriate,"
the ruling says.

Lance Rogers, a San Diego-based attorney for one of the dispensaries
in the case, said a petition will be filed soon for the appeal to be
heard by a full 11-judge panel at the 9th Circuit.

Federal enforcement of medical marijuana use has been controversial
since 56 percent of state voters approved the Compassionate Use Act in
1996. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

"We will continue to focus on federal interests in evaluating
marijuana prosecutions in the Southern District of California," U.S.
Attorney Laura Duffy said in a statement Wednesday, "and will
collaborate with our state and local partners to ensure the safety of
our communities."

Rogers said half of the United States now has medical marijuana laws
in place.

"This issue has to change at the federal level," he
said.

The San Diego case was filed in 2011, but U.S. District Judge Dana
Sabraw dismissed the case. Among the defendants were Cloud 9
Cooperative in Point Loma, Light the Way in the Midway District,
Mother Earth's Alternative Healing Cooperative in El Cajon, American
Treatment Advancement Cooperative in Otay Mesa, and patients Joy
Greenfield and Briana Bilbray.

Bilbray, daughter of former Republican Rep. Brian Bilbray, has
publicly supported medical marijuana after she used it during skin
cancer treatment. She was not part of the ensuing appeal.

The lawsuit was filed after the U.S. attorney in San Diego sent
letters to the dispensaries operating in the county and their
landlords, threatening criminal prosecution and forfeiture. 
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