Pot shop ban: California’s Supreme Court said that cities have the right to ban medical marijuana dispenseries, according to reports.
The court said that current California laws do not include language that prevents cities from banning dispenseries within their limits, reported Bloomberg News. The decision upheld a mandate handed down by Riverside to ban medical marijuana shops. Around 70 other cities across the state have made similar moves.
Laws do not “override the zoning, licensing, and police powers of local jurisdictions; or mandate local accommodation of medical marijuana cooperatives, collectives, or dispensaries,” the court ruled.
Riverside-based Inland Empire Patients’ Health & Wellness Center Inc. sought to overturn the city’s ban.
Tamar Todd, senior staff attorney for the Drug Policy Alliance, told The Associated Press that the move “will likely lead to reduced patient access in California unless the state finally steps up to provide regulatory oversight and guidance.”
“Localities will stop enacting bans once the state has stepped up and assumed its responsibility to regulate,” he said.
