Chronic City: Medical Marijuana Group Gets $139,000 In Attorneys Fees From Garden Grove; City Spent $250K In Legal Battle over $200 Worth of Pot
Wednesday, Jun. 17 2009 @ 5:55PM
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| wikimedia.org |
| Leggo my indo. |
Throw in the more than $100,000 spent by the City of Garden Grove fighting the state's medical marijuana law, and the L.A. suburb spent a likely total of more than a a quarter of a million dollars, according to ASA.
The case involved the wrongful seizure of medical marijuana from Garden Grove patient Felix Kha. The city's argument that California's medical marijuana law was pre-emted by federal law was rejected in the landmark decision. Instead, the Fourth Appellate District Court ruled, "it is not the job of the local police to enforce the federal drug laws."
According to chief counsel Joe Elford of ASA, Garden Grove made
the unfortunate decision to spend in the neighborhood of $250,000 in
its stubborn refusal to return medical marijuana worth about $200.
"Nevertheless, this should force local officials to better uphold
medical marijuana patients' rights under the law," Elford said.
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| Photo: ASA |
| Joe Elford, Americans for Safe Access |
While Kha's case was before the
appellate court, state Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a "friend of the
court" brief on behalf of Kha, backing his right to possess medical marijuana.
Several rigidly anti-pot law enforcement associations statewide then
filed briefs in support of Garden Grove, challenging the legitimacy of
California's medical marijuana law.
The ASA's
Elford said he has received hundreds of complaints from medical
marijuana patients about local anti-pot cops seizing their drugs on the
logic that "we'll take it from you and let the courts sort it out."
Elford
said the decision, handed down by the California Supreme Court in March
2008 and the U.S. Supreme Court in December 2008, along with the
crowning achievement, today's settlement for attorney fees, is a huge
victory for medical marijuana advocates.
"Better
adherence to state medical marijuana laws by local police will result
in fewer needless arrests and seizures, and will allow for better
implementation of those laws not only in California, but in all medical
marijuana states," Elford said.
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