Oakland’s Harborside Health Center, which is notoriously considered to be the largest medical cannabis dispensary in the world today, won a legal battle on Friday when a court judge ruled that their landlord can’t evict them from their premises.
The respective decision was made on the grounds that the business didn’t violate a federal law.
“We are heartened by the robust support provided to Harborside by our elected officials and the California courts,” Harborside’s co-founder and executive director Steve DeAngelo told Huffington Post. “The decision makes it clear that organizations that comply with state law deserve the protection of that law.”
Henry Wykowski, Harborside’s lawyer, also elaborated on the significance of Friday’s decision in a statement.
“For years, in medical cannabis cases, California state courts have followed a principle that cities should not be able to ask a state court to “indirectly” enforce federal controlled substance laws in a way that disadvantages cannabis patients and caregivers,” he said. “However, this is the first opinion that extends that principle to private actors, such as landlords.”
Harborside became the federal government’s latest target in its crackdown on the state of California’s medical cannabis operations, as U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag started forfeiture proceedings against the large marijuana store.
“The larger the operation, the greater the likelihood that there will be abuse of the state’s medical marijuana laws, and marijuana in the hands of individuals who do not have a demonstrated medical need,” Haag explained.
Harborside’s landlord had initially started eviction proceedings in response to federal pressure.
Medical cannabis has been legal in California since 1996, which is when voters passed the landmark Proposition 215. A recent study revealed that medical cannabis sales make the state roughly $100 million in annual tax revenues.
However, the drug is still illegal on a federal level, a fact that the Obama administration has widely used to highlight its attack on the state’s medical marijuana industry.
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