TULARE COUNTY SEEKS INJUNCTION TO SHUT DOWN MEDICAL-MARIJUANA COLLECTIVE

The lawyer representing a medical-marijuana collective operating near
Ivanhoe said he's expecting a hefty legal battle over a lawsuit filed
by Tulare County trying to stop the operation.

"We are contesting the county vigorously on this one," Hanford
attorney Bill Romaine said of the county's motion in Tulare County
Superior Court. The lawsuit seeks an injunction to shut down Foothill
Growers Inc., a cooperative growing medical marijuana for more than
100 members, all with prescriptions to smoke or ingest the drug to
treat various medical conditions.

The county wants Foothill Growers and any other groups involved with
the collective to cease operations at its current location south of
Ivanhoe, zoned AE-20 -- for agricultural use with a minimum 20 acres
- -- said Kathleen Bales-Lange, Tulare County counsel.

Simply put, she said, the collective can continue its operation by
moving to an area zoned for its activities, adding that some of those
sites have room to plant marijuana.

Shortly after sending the notice of violation to Foothill Growers in
late September, her office sent a violation notice to another
medical-marijuana cooperative, the Compassionate Cannabis Information
Center Inc. in Goshen, Bales-Lange said.

Cities in the county aren't affected by the ordinance.

Romaine, the attorney, said that after getting the notice from the
county, Foothill Growers stopped operations in early October to review
the ordinance, but re-opened four or five days later.

"Everything we do is permitted in an orange grove under the AE-20
zoning ordinance," he said. The county shouldn't regard a
medical-marijuana group differently, he said.

"This is not a business. This is an agriculture cooperative," Romaine
said.

"They have basically banded together because not everybody has the
skill to grow their own [medical] marijuana," he said, adding that
such collectives are allowed under California law.

All the marijuana grown is just for the members, and they pay into the
collective to cover the costs, which include paying a worker to
oversee the growing and processing of the plants.

Among them is Jeffrey L. Nunes Jr., named as a plaintiff in the county
lawsuit.

In the past, Nunes had identified himself as the operator of Medical
Marijuana Awareness and Defense, an advocacy group supporting medical
marijuana use, and as the owner of Visalia Compassionate Care, a
medicinal-marijuana dispensary. The latter business operated near
Ivanhoe until December, after the Tulare County supervisors passed
another ordinance in November 2009 banning dispensaries in the
unincorporated county until the distribution of medical marijuana is
recognized by federal law.

Visalia Compassionate Care and four other dispensaries closed as a
result.

Nunes declined to comment on the lawsuit, referring questions to
Romaine.

Marijuana seedlings are grown and prepared for planting on the
property near Ivanhoe used by Foothill Growers, while the crops are
grown elsewhere, Romaine said.

No smoking or ingestion of marijuana is allowed on the property, he
added.

The lawyer for the owner of the property the collective uses, Manuel
Souza - also a defendant in the lawsuit - didn't respond to a request
for an interview.

All the parties are due in court Nov. 22, where the county is seeking
a temporary injunction for the collective to cease operations until
the matter is formally settled.

Souza, who has rented the property to Foothill Growers since September
2007, states in his formal response to the lawsuit that the county
failed to state what harm the public would suffer if an injunction
isn't granted right away.

Whatever happens in court later this month, Romaine said he expects
"heavy litigation" will be involved as the case proceeds.

"I think it's got a long way a to go," he said. "I think it could go
to the California Supreme Court."