By Aaron Sankin
A case headed for the California Supreme Court early next month is expected to have a big impact on the future of medical marijuana in the Golden State.
The City of Riverside v. Inland Empire Patients Health and Wellness Center, which will be heard at the University of San Francisco’s School of Law, is looking at cities’ ability to implement bans on medical marijuana clinics operating within their limits.
“You can imagine how glad I am to see this finally coming to an end–to decidewhether cities can ban collectives or not,” Lanny Swerdlow, founder of the Inland Empire center, told the Riverside Press-Enterprise. “I just hope that if we win, the City of Riverside will sit down and do what we asked them to do 2 1/2 years ago, and enact an ordinance to license and regulate medical marijuana collectives.”
The clinic, which has operated in Riverside since 2009, argues that California’s voter-backed Compassionate Use Act (aka Proposition 215) permits medical marijuana dispensaries, and that governments are overstepping constitutional limits by banning them outright.
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