POT RULING AVOIDS KEY DECISION

A state appeals court Wednesday declined to decide whether
California's medical marijuana laws prevent cities and counties from
outlawing dispensaries, sending the closely watched dispute over
Anaheim's 3-year-old ban back to the lower court for more hearings.

Cities and dispensaries had been anxiously anticipating a major
decision because the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana had
asked for additional information and took an unusually long time to
reach a ruling: a year rather than the usual three months.

"We thought this case would cause things to break heavily in one way
or another," said Joe Elford, chief counsel for Americans for Safe
Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group.

The appeals court, however, did reject Anaheim's contention that the
federal Controlled Substances Act preempted the state's medical
marijuana laws and thus made dispensaries illegal. Orange County
Superior Court Judge David R. Chaffee had sided with the city on that issue.

Anthony Curiale, the attorney for the dispensary that filed suit,
said cities and counties can no longer cite federal law to argue
dispensaries are not allowed. "That's out the window," he said. "This
opinion is very, very important from our point of view."

Several previous court decisions have reached similar conclusions.
"As much as we want to put that argument out of its misery, we just
can't shake it," Elford said.

Anaheim officials said the city's attorneys will meet next week with
the City Council to consider the next step. The city could ask the
state Supreme Court to review the decision.

Qualified Patients Assn., a dispensary run by Lance Mowdy, sued in
2007 to overturn Anaheim's ordinance making it a misdemeanor to
operate a dispensary. Curiale declined to say whether the dispensary
was still in business. Other dispensaries have opened in the city
despite the ban.

"I'm not going to say that some don't exist that are bucking the
law," said Moses W. Johnson IV, an assistant city attorney.

Far more cities and counties in California prohibit dispensaries than
allow them. Americans for Safe Access says 133 cities have banned
dispensaries and 99 have moratoriums, while nine counties have bans
and 15 have moratoriums. Only 38 cities and nine counties allow dispensaries.

Although the three appellate judges declined to rule on the legality
of bans, Curiale said, "They seem to imply that they're skeptical
that the cities have the right to completely ban it."

The judges said "it seems odd" that the state Legislature would have
intended to let cities and counties ban dispensaries. But they also
said the issue "is by no means clear-cut or easily resolved on first
impressions."

The judges acknowledged that they were "anxious" to decide "this
important and interesting question" but said they had "precious few facts."