Oakland sues U.S. to halt closure of marijuana dispensary
OAKLAND, California (Reuters) -
The city of
Oakland has sued to block U.S. authorities from closing down a medical marijuana
dispensary that bills itself as the world's largest, marking the latest
clash with federal
authorities over California's cannabis industry.
The lawsuit, which was filed by Oakland's
city attorney in U.S.
District Court, seeks an injunction to halt efforts by federal
prosecutors to shut down Harborside Health Center through civil
forfeiture actions they filed in July against two properties where the clinic
operates.
Harborside, which has been featured on the
Discovery Channel reality TV show "Weed Wars," says it is the largest medical
marijuana dispensary in the world and serves more than 100,000 patients in a
"beautiful waterfront location."
"This lawsuit is about protecting the
rights of legitimate medical patients," Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker
said in a written statement. "I am deeply dismayed that the federal government
would seek to deny these rights and deprive thousands of seriously ill
Californians of access to safe, affordable and effective medicine."
The legal action marks the latest broadside
in an ongoing battle between the federal government - which holds that pot is an
illegal drug - and local officials in California, where voters in 1996 made the
state the first in the nation to allow cannabis to be sold as medicine.
Since then 16 other states and the District of Columbia have followed
California's lead. Colorado, Oregon and Washington state all have initiatives on
the November ballot that would legalize sale of the drug for recreational
use.Oakland officials are not seeking damages in the lawsuit, which names as defendants Melinda Haag, the U.S. Attorney for the district, and Attorney General Eric Holder. Calls to U.S. Northern California Attorney Melinda Haag's office, and to the Department of Justice, were not returned.
'BIZARRE TWIST'
But Kevin Sabet, a former adviser to the
Obama administration's drug policy director, said that California's medical marijuana law is frequently
abused.
"This lawsuit is just the latest bizarre
twist in California's laughable medical marijuana program, a system where over
95 percent of users have no life-threatening illness," Sabet said.
Oakland officials in the past have been
openly critical of tough federal action against medical marijuana operations,
but the filing of a lawsuit represents the city's most confrontational stance to
date.
Medical marijuana dispensaries - which sometimes offer massages and other
non-medical services - are issued permits by the city of Oakland, perhaps
California's most tolerant municipality when it comes to medical cannabis. In
2010 the city adopted plans to regulate large-scale cannabis farms, then backed
off under threat from the federal government.The city requires dispensaries to submit business plans, submit to audits and background checks, hire security, and install lighting and cameras in parking lots, among other regulations, according to Cedric Chao, who is acting as outside counsel to the city on the lawsuit.
The dispensaries also have to furnish samples of marijuana to outside laboratories that verify the quality, Chao said, adding that the city expects to collect $1.4 million in taxes from dispensaries in 2012.
The city's lawsuit against the federal
government is not unprecedented. About a decade ago, the city and county of
Santa Cruz in northern California along with a local medical marijuana
collective sued the federal government after a raid on the collective, said
Tamar Todd, a senior staff attorney with the Drug Policy Alliance.
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