LAKE FOREST POT SHOP OPERATORS FACE CONTEMPT CHARGE

LAKE FOREST - Attorneys for the city of Lake Forest will go to court
today to ask a judge to hold the operators of two medical marijuana
dispensaries in contempt for staying open despite being ordered to
close.

Attorneys for the city were prepared to seek contempt-of-court orders
against eight medical marijuana dispensaries yesterday but, by day's
end, four were closed, said Jeffrey Dunn, an attorney representing
the city.

On May 28, Orange County Superior Court Judge David Chaffee ordered
all 10 remaining dispensaries in the city to close.

Attorney Damian J. Nassiri, who represents the Lake Forest Wellness
Center and Collective dispensary, said he filed a notice of appeal
today, triggering a stay of the judge's order.

"When you file an appeal it takes away jurisdiction from the trial
court and moves it to the appellate court, so this court has no
authority in this case," Nassiri said.

Dunn disagreed.

"He's wrong," Dunn said. "The notice of appeal does not stay or stop
(the judge's order)."

Dunn noted attorneys for the dispensaries twice failed to get a stay
of Chaffee's order.

Lake Forest attorneys successfully argued the city can use zoning
laws to prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries, Dunn said.
Additionally, in the May 28 order, Chaffee ruled that because
marijuana is still classified as an illegal drug by federal
authorities, it can't be legally dispensed in California.

In September, as many as 35 pot outlets were in operation in Lake
Forest before city officials started cracking down.

In 1996, voters statewide approved Proposition 215 that enabled
people with a doctor's recommendation to legal smoke, possess and
grow pot, but many municipal officials dragged their feet in
accommodating the law, which was later refined by Senate Bill 420.

Dispensary operators and Lake Forest city officials still disagree on
what the law does and does not allow, and what municipalities can do
to regulate pot outlets.

Lake Forest officials have won several decisions in state and federal
court in which judges have ruled that they have the right to use
nuisance laws to prohibit dispensaries.

A precedent-setting ruling stemming from Anaheim's efforts to close
medical marijuana dispensaries could come from the appellate court in
mid-July.