Our Wildomar medical marijuana criminal defense attorneys were disappointed but not surprised to see yet more harassment of medical marijuana dispensary owners by Los Angeles city officials. According to the Los Angeles Times, prosecutors began notifying the dispensaries May 4 that they had just over a month to comply with the city's previously passed ordinance that drastically limits where dispensaries can be located. Prosecutors told the newspaper they were optimistic that the one-month notice would compel significant compliance. Two lawsuits are challenging the rule on behalf of dispensary owners who say they followed the law; a third lawsuit is planned by patients protesting the law's drastic restrictions on where they may buy their medical marijuana.
The city's action is a move to enforce a law that proponents see as correcting uncontrolled growth of medical marijuana dispensaries. In 2007, the City Council placed a moratorium on approval of new business licenses for dispensaries, with an exception for businesses that registered with the city. That moratorium was not enforced well, and the ordinance being enforced now is an attempt to close down dispensaries that did not register. The dispensary owners' lawsuits are from owners of dispensaries that did register, and are now angry that a judge's ruling might lump them in with dispensaries that ignored the law. Business owners and patients also protest a part of the ordinance that places severe limitations on where dispensaries can be located, which they say would force patients to visit out-of-the-way areas like the downtown warehouse district to buy their medicine.
As El Segundo medical marijuana criminal defense lawyers, we have a lot of sympathy for that argument. As the attorney in the patients' lawsuit pointed out in the article, the law doesn't place greater restrictions on medical marijuana access than it does on access to any other drug with impairment or abuse potential such as Vicodin. The difference is the perception by "neighborhood activists" and law enforcement that medical marijuana is a front for criminal drug dealers. We don't doubt there are such dispensaries out there, but this is no reason to harass legitimate collectives and cooperatives that are operating within state law and the Attorney General's guidelines, the most thorough interpretation of the law currently available. Shutting down these small businesses is not legally justified, in addition to potentially violating the rights of the owners who have poured investments into them. During a recession, it may also be a poor financial move by the city.
At Howard Law, P.C., we believe no medical marijuana patients, cooperatives or collectives should be criminally prosecuted for actions related to medical marijuana that were safe and within state law. As this article suggests, however, law enforcement and local politicians frequently use medical marijuana dispensaries as a political whipping boy that allows them to look tough on crime. The results can seriously affect the lives of people who are doing nothing wrong, denying them legally prescribed medicine, taking away thousands in investments or even threatening them with prison and a criminal record. Our Huntington Park medical marijuana criminal defense attorneys defend clients who are wrongly accused of drug possession, sales, cultivation or trafficking based on their legal medical marijuana activities. We also defend people accused of crimes related to medical marijuana misuse, such as driving under the influence.
If you're accused of a crime connected to your legal use of medical marijuana, you should call Howard Law, P.C. for help. To set up a free consultation, please send us a message through our website or call 1-800-872-5925.
