Federal judge upholds ban on marijuana dispensaries in 2 Orange County cities

A federal judge on Monday threw out a lawsuit by four Orange County medical marijuana users who contended citywide bans on pot dispensaries in Lake Forest and Costa Mesa violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Guilford rejected the argument that laws prohibiting pot dispensaries in the two cities conflicted with the disabilities act or with the plaintiffs’ access to public services.

Guilford initially sided with the cities last month, citing federal law that prohibits the sale of marijuana, but then later agreed to listen to arguments made by the patients, Marla James, Wayne Washington, James Armantrout and Charles Daniel DeJong.

The plaintiffs, each of them Orange County residents, argued that they use marijuana to treat various medical ailments. 

After his review, the judge ruled with the cities’ position that access to marijuana is not covered by the disabilities act.

“Because marijuana cannot be prescribed under the ADA, the court finds no likelihood of success on the merits,” Guilford wrote in his ruling. 

Read more details about the case at the Daily Pilot.

-- Mona Shadia

Comments

[Thomas T. Panto]

Who are these Strangers, who pay armed enforcers, to tell fully grown adults what has Value to them and what does not?
Hasn't the outlawing of what Human Beings need and want caused enough crime and murder ?
How many people have been murdered and jailed for coffee and tea?
How many machine guns and helicopter gunships have been sold to Mexico because of Grapefruit ?
When we outlaw Freedom, then we create a lucrative market where there should be none.

[Me]

Good for you federal judge, weed wackers need to come up with better arguments.

[Lauren]

“... the court finds no likelihood of success on the merits,”...um someone remind me again the merits of alcohol and tobacco...

[cshargeit]

state trooper pulls over a pick-up truck......"do you have an I.D" asks the trooper. "about whut"? answers the trucker.

[Lou CHatman]

Great

[Politicalzoo]

With so much "interpretation" of law going on it's difficult to believe in justice. When the SCOTUS can interpret commerce as applying to something grown in one's own home and cosumed by only that individual, you know justice is nothing more than the direction the political winds happen to be blowing.

[sickboytodd]

Shocker, U.S. District Judge Andrew Guilford was appointed by George W. Bush in 2006.
It's O.C. what do you expect?

[Carlos Garcia~Garcia]

This is just a small loop hole in the law that needs to be adjusted. Marijuana is a social drug no doubt but it does more good then bad. Especially compared to every other drug in the U.S. Marijuana needs to be controled and taxed. Marijuana is the future, the fiber that we can use for clothes or rope is so much more economical adn logical to use then any other. Hemp oil...well it's oil and the uses are too many. Hemp wood is as sturdy as wood needs to be to avoid cutting down every tree on the planet. Oh hey...hemp paper. Come people...lets move forward and evolve.

[Mark]

This is great. Great for the people of Costa Mesa who are productive members of the community and not some dirtbags looking to exploit medical care to be able to sell weed in large quantities and advance an agenda that at its core is about getting stoned.
Costa Mesa has enough issues without these places. Seriously, honestly, there are not enough legit (using loose standards) patients in this area to justify this amount of places. These are just head shops pretending to be legitimate "medical" dispensaris.

[Travis]

This is soo wrong in soo many ways.. It makes no sense to police and punish people that have marijuana, isn't there anything else they can be doing besides picking on stoners.. I mean common..

[wise one]

Great use of tax money, chasing stoners and peaceful patients. Why would we use the money for keeping teachers employed and road building, when we could use the money to encarcerate sick people instead. Awesome. awesome,amazing.