The California Supreme Court will decide the fate of about 200 city bans on medical marijuana dispensaries Monday, resolving years of conflicting holdings by lower courts.
During a hearing in February, several justices indicated they favored upholding city bans. The justices' comments suggested the court would rule that local governments have wide policing powers that state medical marijuana laws have not usurped.
If the court rules in favor of the bans, many more communities are expected to zone dispensaries out of existence.
Supporters of medical cannabis have lamented that patients would be forced to drive hundreds of miles to obtain marijuana legally or be forced to buy illegally.
Californians passed Proposition 215 in 1996, removing state sanctions for patients who use cannabis under a doctor's recommendation. But the state Legislature failed to adopt regulations for the law, and some cities and counties were inundated with dispensaries before they even began to consider local rules.
Rather than risk lawsuits by regulating, many cities simply adopted zoning ordinances that effectively banned dispensaries. The case before the court involves such a ban by the city of Riverside.
Read More... http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-med-pot-bans-20130506,0,1567105.story
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