Reason: Legal Expenses; Some Are Regulating and Some Are Litigating Bans.
As reported by Deepa Bharath in an article in the July 21, 2011 edition of The Orange County Register, Garden Grove has chosen to regulate rather than ban medical-marijuana dispensaries. The reason? It spent about $219,000 in a four-year court battle over 8 grams of marijuana confiscated from Felix Kha, in the end having to pay $139,000 in attorney’s fees to medical-marijuana advocates as part of a settlement.
Lake Forest enforces a ban, obtaining injunctions in four lawsuits. Anaheim is also litigating the ban, with a case sent back to the lower court by our local Santa Ana appellate court. Brea has spent $325,000 in legal fees in its effort to shutter three clinics. Dana Point has spent more than $400,000 in legal costs against three “pot shops,” obtaining judicial closure orders and winning $7 million from the collectives plus $138,000 in attorney’s fees from one of them.
Laguna Woods was the first city that opted for regulation, with Garden Grove being the second to follow suit (sorry for the pun).
Flood Prevention Project.
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