Federal ruling protects pot dispensaries that follow state law

The Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana can resume growing pot plants under a federal ruling. The Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana can resume growing pot plants under a federal ruling. Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 65 Caption Close Federal ruling protects pot dispensaries that follow state law 1 / 65 Back to Gallery

Congressional action prohibits federal drug enforcers from shutting medical marijuana dispensaries that comply with state law, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled Monday in a potentially precedent-setting case.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer is the first known ruling by a federal judge to protect pot dispensaries under a budget amendment approved by Congress in December 2014 and in effect through this December, when backers plan to renew it for another year. It bars the Justice Department from spending any money to prevent California and other states from “implementing their own state laws” that authorize the medical use of marijuana.

The ruling allows Lynnette Shaw to reopen the state’s first licensed marijuana dispensary, the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, which operated in Fairfax from 1998 until it was closed by a federal injunction — sought by the Justice Department, and approved by Breyer — in 2011. If upheld on appeal, it would also halt federal action against other locally licensed marijuana suppliers, including Oakland’s huge Harborside Health Center and the Berkeley Patients Group.

Breyer did not say whether his reasoning would also apply to criminal prosecutions. But he emphatically rejected the Obama administration’s argument that the congressional action allows federal agents to act against individual marijuana suppliers as long as the Justice Department doesn’t directly challenge state laws.

“It defies language and logic for the government to argue that it does not prevent California from implementing its medical marijuana laws by shutting down these ... heavily regulated medical marijuana dispensaries,” Breyer said.

He cited a letter to then-Attorney General Eric Holder in April by the lead House authors of the congressional amendment, Republican Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa (Orange County) and Democrat Sam Farr of Carmel. They said the department had misinterpreted their amendment, which was intended to prevent the government from “wasting its limited law enforcement resources on prosecutions and asset forfeiture actions against medical marijuana patients and suppliers.”

While Justice Department lawyers argued that closing one dispensary, or several, doesn’t interfere with California’s overall access to medical marijuana, Breyer said there is evidence that medicinal pot supplies have been “substantially impeded” by the closing of dispensaries in general and of the Marin dispensary in particular. He noted a December 2014 letter from Fairfax Mayor Larry Bragman saying the dispensary was the only legal supplier of medical marijuana in Marin County and that sufferers of breast and prostate cancer now lack local access to a drug with “proven medical benefits.”

California was the first state to legalize the medical use of marijuana, with Proposition 215 in 1996, and lawmakers recently adopted the first statewide regulations of dispensaries. The drug remains prohibited by federal law.

Shaw said she’ll work with Fairfax officials to reopen the outlet as soon as possible, although her former landlord is forbidden to rent to her by an agreement with the Justice Department. The ruling “means I can have my life back,” she said.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko