By Ronnie Cohen
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 14 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge paved the way
on Thursday for federal authorities to seek the closure of a
medical marijuana dispensary in California, dismissing a
challenge by the city of Oakland to a federal crackdown
targeting the facility, court papers showed.
But the executive director of the Harborside Health Center
pledged that he would not close the Oakland outfit that bills
itself as the world's largest medical pot dispensary and was
featured in the Discovery Channel television series "Weed Wars."
U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria-Elena James wrote in a 10-page
ruling that a local U.S. attorney had successfully argued the
federal government was immune from Oakland's lawsuit under the
Administrative Procedures Act, which sets out how U.S. agencies
develop and issue regulations.
California is one of 18 states which, in addition to the
District of Columbia, allow medical marijuana. But the federal
government holds the drug is illegal and liable to be abused.
A representative for the U.S. Attorney for the Northern
District of California declined to comment on the ruling.
Oakland, in a novel lawsuit filed in October, sought to halt
federal prosecutors' efforts to shutter Harborside. The
dispensary was expected to generate an estimated $1.4 million in
sales tax revenues for the city this year.
Federal prosecutors in 2012 filed civil actions in federal
court seeking to seize the properties for Harborside's locations
in Oakland and San Jose, and terminate the dispensary's leases
with the landlord for each site, said Harborside's attorney
Henry Wykowski.
James, the judge who dismissed the Oakland lawsuit on
Thursday, is also overseeing those two civil actions.
She had put those cases on hold until the Oakland lawsuit
could be resolved, but Wykowski said he expects the cases to
move forward and that two separate San Francisco juries will
decide them. The juries will get those cases late this year or
in early 2014, he said.
Wykowki added that he expects juries in San Francisco, a
predominately liberal city, would "allow Harborside to remain
open and conduct its business consistent with the mandate of the
voters of California to legalize medical cannabis."
"I think that the U.S. Department of Justice is out of touch
with the will of the American people with regards to the
legalization of medical cannabis," he said.
Harborside officials say they serve over 100,000 patients.
"We are, of course, disappointed in today's ruling," Steve
DeAngelo, executive director of Harborside, said in a statement.
"But the message of Oakland's lawsuit remains powerful and
relevant: The City Council and mayor have determined that if
Harborside Health Center is closed, the entire city will be
harmed," he said.
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