APPEALS COURT LETS POT DISPENSARY STAY OPEN

A Riverside medical marijuana collective will be open to serve
customers today, after an appeals court on Monday ruled the facility
can operate while the city's lawsuit to close it proceeds.

A lower court judge had granted an injunction to close the Inland
Empire Patients Health and Wellness Center but stayed the order so
the facility's attorney could appeal.

The state Fourth District Court of Appeal continued the stay while it
considers the case.

"Everybody's excited that we can continue to facilitate safe access"
for medical marijuana patients as allowed by state law, said William
Sump, the health and wellness center's general manager.

During business hours Monday, he said, "It was very stressful
awaiting the outcome" from the court.

The center opened in December 2009. It is a collective open only to
members, who must have a valid doctor's recommendation for marijuana.
Sump said it has about 6,000 members, mostly from around Riverside County.

The center is also the first facility to be targeted with legal
action by the city of Riverside. City officials say marijuana
dispensaries are not allowed by the zoning code, and the city is
seeking to shut down all such facilities.

In November, Superior Court Judge John D. Molloy agreed that the city
is within its rights to use zoning to ban medical marijuana
facilities, and he granted the injunction to close the health and
wellness center.

The center's attorney is appealing, and its supporters have argued
that state law allows cities to regulate dispensaries but not ban
them outright.

On Monday afternoon, Riverside Deputy City Attorney Neil Okazaki
declined to comment on the appeals court's stay of the injunction
because he had not yet seen the order.

Overall, he said, "I don't think it affects the city's strategy."

The city has requested injunctions against several medical marijuana
facilities; some have closed voluntarily and the city continues to
pursue four others in court.