Our Mission Viejo medical marijuana criminal defense attorneys wrote recently about our representation of the Lake Forest Wellness Center and Collective, a medical marijuana dispensary that is fighting a shutdown order from the city of Lake Forest. We're happy to say that our partner, Damian Nassiri, has helped win an important court order that will allow our client to stay open, at least until the case can be heard. As the Orange County Register reported July 2, the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana granted a stay to the LFWCC that day, which stopped a lower court from enforcing a contempt of court ruling against the collective. The court will later hear an appeal on the underlying case, which is a lawsuit seeking to stop Lake Forest from shutting down our client and all of the other dispensaries within city limits.
The case started in late May, when the city of Lake Forest won a court ruling ordering all of the dispensaries in the city to close, to comply with a zoning law forbidding any dispensaries within city limits. That ruling also said that despite the fact that medical marijuana is legal in California, California cities may not allow it to be dispensed legally because it is still illegal under federal law. Several dispensaries stayed open in defiance of the ruling, including the LFWCC. The city of Lake Forest then won an Orange County court ruling that those dispensaries were in contempt of court, which would allow penalties against them. We appealed that order to the Fourth District and won a stay, which means enforcement will be stopped for the moment. The appeals court will still have to decide whether the underlying ruling -- allowing Lake Forest to ban all dispensaries in defiance of California law -- is valid.
As Cypress medical marijuana criminal defense lawyers, we believe this issue was always going to be decided at the appeals court level. Multiple lawsuits in California have been filed to stop cities' bans on medical marijuana dispensaries, and the issue is unfortunately still controversial. That means that no matter who wins these cases, it's likely to go to the state Supreme Court. We believe a great deal of the opposition to medical marijuana comes from people who believe marijuana has no medicinal value -- despite reams of scientific evidence -- and have vague concerns about crime. Such people have succeeded in banning dispensaries from cities throughout California, making it much harder for patients to get medication they genuinely need.
At Howard Law, P.C., we represent collectives, cooperatives, patients and others who are facing legal penalties for their legal use of medical marijuana. We do not believe that anyone should be criminally charged, held in contempt or otherwise penalized for doing things that California state law allows them to do. Dispensaries and patients in California can draw on the law and the guidelines issued by the attorney general to help them follow the law. Those guidelines specifically say nonprofit dispensaries are permitted, and we believe politicians who say otherwise are using patients' health and suffering as a political football. Our Glendale medical marijuana criminal defense attorneys help clients prove to a court that their conduct was legal. We also represent people who have mistakenly stepped outside the law.
If you're charged with a crime because of your use of legal medical marijuana, you don't have to plead guilty. Talk with Howard Law, P.C. to find out how we can help. For a free evaluation of your case, call us today at 1-800-872-5925 or send us a message through the Internet.
