City of Riverside v. Inland Empire Patients Health & Wellness Center, Inc.

The issue in this case is whether California’s medical marijuana statutes preempt a local ban on facilities that distribute medical marijuana. We conclude they do not.

Both federal and California laws generally prohibit the use, possession, cultivation, transportation, and furnishing of marijuana. However, California statutes, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (CUA; Health & Saf. Code, § 11362.5, 1 added by initiative, Prop. 215, as approved by voters, Gen. Elec. (Nov. 5, 1996)) and the more recent Medical Marijuana Program (MMP; § 11362.7 et seq., added by Stats. 2003, ch. 875, § 2, p. 6424) have removed certain state law obstacles from the ability of qualified patients to obtain and use marijuana for legitimate medical purposes. Among other things, these statutes exempt the “collectiveQ or cooperative[] . . . cultivation]” of medical marijuana by qualified patients and their designated caregivers from prosecution or abatement under specified state criminal and nuisance laws that would otherwise prohibit those activities. (§ 11362.775.)

The California Constitution recognizes the authority of cities and counties to make and enforce, within their borders, “all local,…

I join the court’s opinion and write separately to clarify the proper test for state preemption of local law.

As the court says, “[Ljocal legislation that conflicts with state law is void. [Citation.] ‘ “A conflict exists if the local legislation ‘ “duplicates, contradicts, or enters an area fully occupied by general law, either expressly or by legislative implication.” ’ ” [Citations.]’ ” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 743.)

The court further states: “The ‘contradictory and inimical’ form of preemption does not apply unless the ordinance directly requires what the state statute forbids or prohibits what the state enactment demands. [Citations.] Thus, no inimical conflict will be found where it is reasonably possible to comply with both the state and local laws.” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 743.)

The first sentence of the above statement should not be misunderstood to improperly limit the scope of the preemption inquiry. As the court’s opinion makes clear elsewhere, state law may preempt local law when local law prohibits not only what a state statute “demands” but also what the statute permits or authorizes. (See maj. opn., ante, at pp. 758, 760-761, discussing Cohen v. Board of…

Filed 5/6/

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA

CITY OF RIVERSIDE, )

) Plaintiff and Respondent, ) ) S198638 v. ) ) Ct.App. 4/2 E052400

INLAND EMPIRE PATIENTS HEALTH )

AND WELLNESS CENTER, INC., et al., ) ) Riverside County Defendants and Appellants. ) Super. Ct. No. RIC10009872 ____________________________________)

The issue in this case is whether California‘s medical marijuana statutes preempt a local ban on facilities that distribute medical marijuana. We conclude they do not. Both federal and California laws generally prohibit the use, possession, cultivation, transportation, and furnishing of marijuana. However, California statutes, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (CUA; Health & Saf. Code, § 11362.5,1 added by initiative, Prop. 15, as approved by voters, Gen. Elec. (Nov. 5, 1996)) and the more recent Medical Marijuana Program (MMP; § 11362.7 et seq., added by Stats. 2003, ch. 875, § 2, pp. 6422, 6424), have removed certain state law obstacles from the ability of qualified patients to obtain and use marijuana for legitimate medical purposes.…