APPELLATE POT RULING LEAVES BOTH SIDES WITH LITTLE CAUSE TO CHEER

A California appeals court issued a split ruling Wednesday in a
closely watched medical marijuana case but failed to decide whether
cities in the state can ban pot dispensaries or be forced to accept them.

Ruling in the case of an Orange County medical marijuana patients'
group that sued after being denied the right to operate a dispensary
in Anaheim, the 4th District Court of Appeal rejected city arguments
that state legislation allowing dispensaries improperly amended
California's 1996 medical marijuana law.

But the court also rejected arguments by Qualified Patients
Association that the Anaheim ban violates California's Unruh Civil
Rights Act against discrimination.

The ruling seemed to offer little to celebrate for either side as the
appeals court kicked the case back to Orange Superior Court to
consider the merits of the Anaheim ban.

"We express no opinion on the merits of the parties' positions but
instead remand (the case back to the lower court) to allow the
parties and the trial court to address these issues in further
proceedings," wrote Judge Richard M. Aronson in the decision.

The ruling reversed a 2007 Orange County court decision that upheld
the Anaheim ban on grounds that federal marijuana law supersedes
legal medical pot use in California.

But the appeals court offered no ruling on whether Anaheim and more
than 130 California local governments can bar pot shops under local
zoning and public nuisance laws.

That was disappointing news for George Mull, an attorney for a
Sacramento-area dispensary the Galt Wellness Center. He was hoping a
clear-cut verdict would help overturn a court order that let the city
close the Galt dispensary last week.

"I was hoping for a lot more than this." Mull said. "This is
basically of no help at all."