August 11, 2010

Colorado Medical Marijuana Rules Challenged in Court

August 11, 2010
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The day has finally arrived; the restrictive Colorado HB 1284 is finally being challenged in court. A complaint was recently filed on behalf of Herbal Remedies, a dispensary in the Colorado city of Westminster. Sean McAllister is one of the attorneys handling the case. You might recognize his name from a successful campaign to decriminalize marijuana in the city of Breckenridge.

“This is the test case,” says Sean McAllister, “and we as the plaintiffs and the attorneys are going to bear the obligation for the entire movement to get a good result here.”

“In November of 2009, before the legislature even enacted HB 1284, Westminster passed a dispensary ban,” he says. “And they did this even though there were two dispensaries open and operating in the community. They had come out and permitted these dispensaries, allowed them to operate, and then basically changed their mind.”

There have been allegations that the city ‘threatened, intimidated, and coerced’ the landlord of Herbal Remedies. “They’ve told him, ‘We’re going to prosecute you criminally’ — and, in fact, they did file criminal charges against him, and Carl, too. But then they said, ‘If you kick this tenant out, we’ll drop the charges against you.’ And never as a lawyer are you supposed to use the threat of criminal prosecution to resolve a civil dispute.”

Case law is on the side of the dispensary. It seems that there was a similar ruling in another city, Centennial, where Judge Christopher Cross ruled that ‘Centennial’s reliance upon weed’s illegality under federal law was trumped by the Colorado constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana.

“The constitution allows for distribution or sale,” says McAllister, “and any ban by the local government or the legislature will violate the constitution. And if this court in Adams County finds the same way the Centennial court did — that the constitution allows sale and distribution — these bans will be overturned.

“It wouldn’t be technically binding,” he concedes. “If we win this case, it wouldn’t be binding until we would have a Court of Appeals or Colorado Supreme Court decision. Those are the levels of decisions that would be binding on the entire state. But I think a victory in Adams County would be a strong signal to the legislature that these bans are illegal. And it would let localities that have bans see that the writing’s on the wall.”

“Since 2000, when the medical marijuana amendment passed, and especially since last year, when the dispensary movement really exploded, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office and the Adams County District Attorney’s Office has been unfavorable to the law,” he maintains. “They’ve taken every opportunity to challenge medical marijuana participants as to their legality, even though voters in Adams County voted in favor of the amendment with 52 percent in favor. That’s why, in my opinion, the city, the DA’s office and the sheriff’s office are all engaging in undermining the constitution against the will of the voters.”

“My belief is, they get a few vocal complaints and assume that because they don’t hear positive things from the other side, the community must all be against it. But I think the dynamics of this issue are so different. They’re enacting these hardcore bans to answer the loudest voices instead of being responsible. And I believe Westminster’s ban is irresponsible. It puts patients in a bad position. Why should a patient in Westminster have to drive to Denver to get something the constitution says they’re allowed to have?”

“We’ll be asking for a preliminary injunction, and our hope is that there would be a hearing in the next thirty days,” McAllister says, adding that the case involving landlord Lehman is on hold until October at least. “We hope to get a preliminary-injunction ruling striking down the municipal statute. At that point, Westminster could revoke its ban and instead engage in responsible, reasonable regulation — and that’s our preferred way of working this out. But we could also go to trial whether we win or lose the preliminary injunction, and that could drag out another six months or a year beyond the preliminary injunction phase.”

“Herbal Remedies has put over $100,000 this year alone directly into the city coffers from sales tax revenue,” he notes. “And they employ over twenty people, with full benefits. In a recession, why wouldn’t the city want a business that’s producing enough tax revenue to probably pay for two city employees, and that’s serving thousands of patients, to continue operating?”

After all, he goes on, “there have been no complaints of criminal activity associated with the dispensary, and no complaints from neighbors, either. All we’ve heard over the last year is how dispensaries are horrible magnets for crime and disorder, but the doomsayers have been completely proven wrong. The sense I have is, these places have been remarkably crime-free and peaceful, and they fit in just fine with other businesses. And yet Westminster is acting like a federal agent and enforcing federal law instead of obeying Colorado law.”

“Access to medical marijuana is a patient’s right, not a local government’s choice.”

NOW THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!!!

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