ANAHEIM, Calif., Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Anaheim, Calif.'s ban on medical marijuana dispensaries doesn't violate a state law permitting them, a superior court judge has ruled.
The case is now headed to appeals court, but the ruling this week gave anti-marijuana advocates something to cheer about, The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
"I think both sides have been watching this case more so than any other," said Paul Chabot, president of the Coalition for a Drug-Free California. "We are excited about this. We think it's going to encourage the cities that are on the sidelines to join with the majority of California cities in banning dispensaries."
The judge in the Orange County case is wrong, said Anthony Curiale, an attorney for Qualified Patients Association, a medical marijuana dispensary that sued Anaheim in 2007. Curiale said he plans to appeal the ruling.
"Their ordinance is unconstitutional, it's invalid, it conflicts with state law," Curiale said. "I believe Judge [David] Chaffee is wrong in his interpretation of law."
The Anaheim case is one of California's most-watched medical marijuana cases and it could result in an appeals court ruling on whether cities and counties have the power to ban dispensaries, the Times said. More than 200 California cities and 15 counties have banned the dispensaries.
After presiding over a trial in May, Chaffee concluded that neither the medical marijuana initiative passed by voters in 1996 nor the state law following it seven years later pre-empted local ordinances regulating distribution of marijuana.
