City of Garden Grove v. Superior Court

We confront here the facially anomalous request that we approve state confiscation of a substance which is legal in the circumstances under which it was possessed. This request is terra incognita, as will be most of the many confusing aspects of the current tension between California marijuana laws and those of the federal government. Our conclusions are therefore more a matter of analytical accouchement than precedential accretion. But we are convinced by the Attorney General’s argument that governmental subdivisions of the state are bound by the state’s laws in this instance and must return materials the state considers legally possessed. We are persuaded due process will allow nothing less. Accordingly, we deny the City of Garden Grove’s petition.

During a traffic stop, Garden Grove police seized about a third of an ounce of marijuana from real party in interest Felix Kha. However, because Kha had a doctor’s approval to use marijuana for medical reasons, the prosecutor dismissed the drug charge he was facing. The trial court then granted Kha’s motion for return of property and ordered the Garden Grove Police Department to give him back his marijuana. Petitioner, the…