Pubdate: Thu, 19 Aug 2010 Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Copyright: 2010 The Sacramento Bee Contact: http://www.sacbee.com/2006/09/07/19629/submit-letters-to-the-editor.html Website: http://www.sacbee.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376 Author: Peter Hecht Referenced: The ruling http://americansforsafeaccess.org/downloads/Anaheim_Ruling.pdf Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.) APPELLATE POT RULING LEAVES BOTH SIDES WITH LITTLE CAUSE TO CHEER A California appeals court issued a split ruling Wednesday in a closely watched medical marijuana case but failed to decide whether cities in the state can ban pot dispensaries or be forced to accept them. Ruling in the case of an Orange County medical marijuana patients' group that sued after being denied the right to operate a dispensary in Anaheim, the 4th District Court of Appeal rejected city arguments that state legislation allowing dispensaries improperly amended California's 1996 medical marijuana law. But the court also rejected arguments by Qualified Patients Association that the Anaheim ban violates California's Unruh Civil Rights Act against discrimination. The ruling seemed to offer little to celebrate for either side as the appeals court kicked the case back to Orange Superior Court to consider the merits of the Anaheim ban. "We express no opinion on the merits of the parties' positions but instead remand (the case back to the lower court) to allow the parties and the trial court to address these issues in further proceedings," wrote Judge Richard M. Aronson in the decision. The ruling reversed a 2007 Orange County court decision that upheld the Anaheim ban on grounds that federal marijuana law supersedes legal medical pot use in California. But the appeals court offered no ruling on whether Anaheim and more than 130 California local governments can bar pot shops under local zoning and public nuisance laws. That was disappointing news for George Mull, an attorney for a Sacramento-area dispensary the Galt Wellness Center. He was hoping a clear-cut verdict would help overturn a court order that let the city close the Galt dispensary last week. "I was hoping for a lot more than this." Mull said. "This is basically of no help at all." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom