[OG Kush]

Healing Nations Collective, a medical marijuana dispensary, will remain open for now despite the city's efforts to shut its doors.

Riverside Superior Court Commissioner Joan F. Burgess ruled Tuesday against Corona, which had filed a temporary restraining order last week against the collective.

The commissioner set a hearing for Sept. 28 on a preliminary injunction, the next step the city could take in its efforts to close Healing Nations.

Attorney James Anthony, representing Healing Nations owner Ronald Naulls, said the ruling was validation for his client and a costly misuse of public funds.

"Healing Nations won and the city lost because Healing Nations was right and the city was wrong," Anthony said.
"Stop harassing a lawful business and work with us to regulate."

Anthony said if the city does move forward with the preliminary injunction and he loses, he will appeal. Either way, the collective won't be closing down anytime soon, he said.

Corona's attorney Jeffrey Dunn, with Best, Best & Krieger, said temporary restraining orders are hard to get and that the preliminary hearing will be "the real defining moment."

Dunn said the city brought the court action because officials say that the collective is in violation of the city's municipal code and zoning requirements. The city also alleges that Naulls told staff that his business was related to medical supplies and equipment, Dunn said.

Naulls also listed his business as "miscellaneous retail"
instead of writing that it was a medical marijuana dispensary on his license application, Dunn said.

"There is not a category for every kind out there," he said.
"We just need people to tell us what kind of business it is."

Naulls, a medical marijuana patient, said he told city staff he wanted to open up a dispensary and consulted an attorney before moving forward. No category for medical marijuana dispensary existed on the application, so he listed the only business type applicable, he said.

Healing Nations, located in a Grand Boulevard shopping center near Main Street, opened in May. In June, the Corona City Council approved a 45-day moratorium on the establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries and on Aug. 2 extended that ban until June 2007.

The city also has mailed two cease and desist letters to Naulls and his attorney, calling for the collective to close.

City officials have said they issued the ban because of conflicting state and federal laws, something supporters of medical marijuana say local governments are hiding behind.

California voters approved marijuana use for medical purposes in 1996 but it is still illegal at the federal level.

Naulls said he felt "humbled" by the Superior Court judge's ruling in his favor and vowed to keep fighting.

"This is a very personal issue in my life and the lives of my patients," he said. "This is about life and death."



Newshawk: SX420 - 420Girls.com
Source: 420Times.com
Pubdate: Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Author: Melanie C. Johnson
Copyright: 2006 The Press-Enterprise Company
Contact: mjohnson@PE.com
Website: http://www.pe.com/