Long Beach city officials have upped the ante in their dispute with medical marijuana distributors and have taken on property owners who rent to these businesses. The City Council has voted to revoke the business licence of a landlord who has allowed medical marijuana providers to operate from a strip mall that he owns.
The decision to revoke Bentech’s commercial licence was unanimous and means no new business permits will be issued for the entire property for 12 months. Current businesses operating at the location will not be affected by this decision.
To date, Bentech has not evicted the medical marijuana collectives operating from the premises, after being requested to do so by the city. Long Beach has levied administrative fines in an effort to get the medical marijuana collectives removed from the premises, but to no avail.
The most recent medical marijuana business operating at the mall is the Healing Tree Holistic Association. James Devine, an attorney representing the Healing Tree Holistic Association and Bentech, will file a complaint in Superior Court asking for an injunction in the business license revocation on behalf of Bentech. He will also ask the court to find that Long Beach’s order banning medical marijuana dispensaries is unconstitutional.
Under California state law qualified patients, or their primary carers in possession of valid identification cards, can cultivate marijuana for medical purposes. In these circumstances, they are not subject to criminal penalties.
The city of Long Beach is arguing that all marijuana is illegal under federal law and that marijuana collectives are operating illegally. Local police have conducted joint raids on several local marijuana dispensaries recently. According to Deputy City Attorney Kendra Carney, the city’s ban on this type of commercial business is enforceable.
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