Jacob Bell
New Member
Murrieta, CA--Cooperative Medical Group locked its doors Friday after a Riverside Superior Court hearing, during which a court commissioner issued a temporary restraining against the business on behalf of the city.
Commissioner John W. Vineyard also declared the business, which opened two weeks ago at 26690 Madison Ave., Suite 103, to be a public nuisance because it is close to Sky High Party Zone, an arcade and party gym for children.
The dispensary is in an office between Dream Box, an adult clothing and video store, and a mail shipping business. A Sky High Party Zone wall backs up to Dream Box, but the entrance to the party gym is not in that strip mall.
The city is seeking a permanent restraining order to close the business, a matter that will be discussed during a Sept. 2 hearing.
In awarding the temporary restraining order, Vineyard said he did not agree with a city declaration that a burglary of the dispensary that occurred on the one-week anniversary of its opening constituted nuisance behavior by the business.
"I'm not persuaded by the burglary," Vineyard said. "I (am) persuaded by the description of what sounds like a Chuck E. Cheese's next door."
In defense of the dispensary, attorney Joseph Rhea argued that the city's request for an emergency restraining order was overkill. Rhea said the state Court of Appeals has put off making a decision on whether cities can ban medical marijuana dispensaries.
"If there's one thing we can agree on it is that all the stays (decisions by the appellate court to prevent enforcement of a lower court's orders until the overriding matter is decided) show the court does not consider this an emergency issue," Rhea said. "This is, at the end of the day, just a marijuana collective that's embroiled in a zoning issue."
Robert Mahlowitz, the city's attorney, swayed the commissioner, however, when he said that the cooperative owners should have challenged the city's 2005 ordinance that prohibits marijuana dispensaries before opening their business. That, Mahlowitz said, would have allowed a discussion on where, if at all, marijuana dispensaries should be allowed to operate.
"The status quo should be that they are closed while they challenge this," Mahlowitz said.
After the hearing in Riverside, Beth Burns, who owns the cooperative with Carolina Burns and Charles Thompson, said she was disappointed, but undeterred from the business's mission of providing safe access to medical marijuana patients.
"If we have to be here (in court) every month, we'll be here every month," she said.
The Murrieta City Council decided Tuesday to seek a court order to close the business. Council members also declared the business a public nuisance during a public hearing at that same meeting.
Cooperative Medical Group is the only marijuana dispensary in the city. Since opening July 9, the business has served nearly 200 card-holding patients, said Beth Burns, who is one of three owners of the cooperative.
News Hawk- Jacob Ebel 420 MAGAZINE
Source: nctimes.com
Author: Nelsy Rodriguez
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: North County Times
Website: MURRIETA: Court orders medical marijuana dispensary to close
Commissioner John W. Vineyard also declared the business, which opened two weeks ago at 26690 Madison Ave., Suite 103, to be a public nuisance because it is close to Sky High Party Zone, an arcade and party gym for children.
The dispensary is in an office between Dream Box, an adult clothing and video store, and a mail shipping business. A Sky High Party Zone wall backs up to Dream Box, but the entrance to the party gym is not in that strip mall.
The city is seeking a permanent restraining order to close the business, a matter that will be discussed during a Sept. 2 hearing.
In awarding the temporary restraining order, Vineyard said he did not agree with a city declaration that a burglary of the dispensary that occurred on the one-week anniversary of its opening constituted nuisance behavior by the business.
"I'm not persuaded by the burglary," Vineyard said. "I (am) persuaded by the description of what sounds like a Chuck E. Cheese's next door."
In defense of the dispensary, attorney Joseph Rhea argued that the city's request for an emergency restraining order was overkill. Rhea said the state Court of Appeals has put off making a decision on whether cities can ban medical marijuana dispensaries.
"If there's one thing we can agree on it is that all the stays (decisions by the appellate court to prevent enforcement of a lower court's orders until the overriding matter is decided) show the court does not consider this an emergency issue," Rhea said. "This is, at the end of the day, just a marijuana collective that's embroiled in a zoning issue."
Robert Mahlowitz, the city's attorney, swayed the commissioner, however, when he said that the cooperative owners should have challenged the city's 2005 ordinance that prohibits marijuana dispensaries before opening their business. That, Mahlowitz said, would have allowed a discussion on where, if at all, marijuana dispensaries should be allowed to operate.
"The status quo should be that they are closed while they challenge this," Mahlowitz said.
After the hearing in Riverside, Beth Burns, who owns the cooperative with Carolina Burns and Charles Thompson, said she was disappointed, but undeterred from the business's mission of providing safe access to medical marijuana patients.
"If we have to be here (in court) every month, we'll be here every month," she said.
The Murrieta City Council decided Tuesday to seek a court order to close the business. Council members also declared the business a public nuisance during a public hearing at that same meeting.
Cooperative Medical Group is the only marijuana dispensary in the city. Since opening July 9, the business has served nearly 200 card-holding patients, said Beth Burns, who is one of three owners of the cooperative.
News Hawk- Jacob Ebel 420 MAGAZINE
Source: nctimes.com
Author: Nelsy Rodriguez
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: North County Times
Website: MURRIETA: Court orders medical marijuana dispensary to close
