Thursday, July 4, 2013

State Battles Federal Government for Independence in Medical Marijuana Case


Posted by Neill Abayon

Magistrate Maria-Elena James ruled that a cannabis dispensary in Oakland, CA, is free to stay open while local authorities fight federal prosecution to shut it down, reports Reuters.


The ruling came in on July 3rd, just under the wire for local supporters of the Harborside Health Center to celebrate their temporary medical marijuana freedom on the Fourth of July.

This long-standing court case between California and the US government is currently in an appeals stage, whereby the local government is contesting Magistrate James's February decision that the city has no right to interfere in a federal prosecutor's action to shut down or seize the property of the Oakland-based pot store.

Currently in the US, marijuana is not an approved drug according to the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), but rather an illegal narcotic. Still, the District of Columbia and 16 states have deemed cannabis to be legal if sold as a medicine prescribed by a doctor.

Continue here.


No comments: