Qualified Patients Assn. v. City of Anaheim

Plaintiffs Qualified Patients Association (QPA) and Lance Mowdy appeal from a judgment of dismissal entered after the trial court sustained, without leave to amend, the City of Anaheim’s demurrer to plaintiffs’ complaint. Asserting the primacy of state law over local law under constitutional and statutory authority (Cal. Const., art. XI, § 7; Gov. Code, § 37100), plaintiffs’ first cause of action sought a declaratory judgment that the city’s ordinance imposing criminal penalties for the operation of a medical marijuana dispensary was preempted by the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (CUA) (Health & Saf. Code, § 11362.5) and the Medical Marijuana Program Act (MMPA) (§§ 11362.7-11362.83). In their second cause of action, plaintiffs asserted the city’s ordinance violated the Unruh Civil Rights Act (Civ. Code, § 51).

We agree with plaintiffs the trial court erred as a matter of law in concluding federal regulation of marijuana in the Controlled Substances Act ( 21 U.S.C. § 812 et seq.) preempted California’s decision in the CUA and the MMPA to decriminalize specific medical marijuana activities under state law. We therefore reverse the judgment of dismissal and remand the…