California Supreme Court Says Cities Can Ban Pot Shops

California cities and counties can ban pot shops, the state's highest court ruled Monday, according to a NBC Bay Area report.

The California Supreme Court said neither the state's voter-approved law legalizing medical marijuana nor a companion measure adopted by the Legislature prevent local governments from using their land use and zoning powers to prohibit storefront dispensaries.

The ruling came in a legal challenge to a ban enacted by the city of Riverside in 2010.

Half Moon Bay, Millbrae, San Bruno, and South San Francisco are among more than 10 Peninsula and South Bay cities that have some sort of prohibition in place.

Even though Pacifica's immediate neighbors have banned medical-marijuana collectives outright, the City has not taken sides on the pot club issue and there's no official policy in place to date.

"My problem is that all the costs of enforcement and regulation fall to us," said Mary Ann Nihart, Pacifica City Councilmember. "San Jose did a great white page on the analysis of these costs which is why most smaller cities have not moved to include medicinal stores and San Jose set their fees so high ... [This] doesn't solve the problem of who regulates and pays for the regulation and enforcement."

Pacifica did shut a cannabis dispensary down on Palmetto Avenue in 2011, and the city council denied its appeal to reopen. In March of 2012, another cannabis-related business called Cannabis Wellness Center reportedly opened in Pacifica but the location of it was never verified.

"The city's municipal Zoning Code is drafted in a permissive fashion, therefore any use not enumerated in the Code is presumptively prohibited," said Michelle Marchetta Kenyon, Pacifica City Attorney. "In this instance, the use of land for a medical marijuana dispensary or collective for the sale, cultivation and distribution of marijuana is not expressly enumerated in the Pacifica Zoning Code, either as a permitted or conditional use. Therefore, such use is impermissible under the City’s consistent interpretation of its code. We do not believe the Supreme Court's decision changes the City's interpretation or practice."

South San Francisco's ban was approved in 2011, a reversal of city policy following years of incremental steps toward allowing pot clubs.

San Bruno also prohibited medical marijuana dispensaries in 2011, just as a two-year moratorium on the establishments was set to expire.

Millbrae adopted an ordinance in 2010 that banned medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits.

In 2010, Half Moon Bay adopted an ordinance prohibiting the establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries.

"While some counties and cities might consider themselves well-suited to accommodating medical marijuana dispensaries, conditions in other communities might lead to the reasonable decision that such facilities within their borders, even if carefully sited, well managed, and closely monitored, would present unacceptable local risks and burdens," Justice Marvin Baxter wrote for the seven-member court.

Still, the Supreme Court's decision might not be the last word on the issue. Pending legislation would establish a new statewide system for regulating and licensing the medical marijuana industry and clarify the role of dispensaries in it. 

According to NBC Bay Area, activists also are in the early stages of planning a ballot initiative that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana and regulate it like alcohol, as voters in Washington and Colorado did last year.

Read more on Pacifica Patch: