Arapahoe District Court to Hear Landmark Challenge
to Municipal Medical Marijuana Bans Friday Afternoon
For immediate release, Dec. 16, 2009
Contact: Jessica Peck Corry
720-628-5756/Jessica@JessicaCorry.com
www.HobanandFeola.com
Centennial, Colo.—A coalition of medical marijuana patients
and caregivers will get their day in court Friday. At an afternoon
hearing in Arapahoe County District Court, plaintiffs will argue
that the City of Centennial violated their rights under the Colorado
Constitution, as well as a series of land use statutes, by forcing
a Centennial medical marijuana wellness center to close last month.
Three seriously-ill medical marijuana patients, together with their
two caregivers, hope to reverse the City of Centennial’s decision
to force CannaMart to shut its doors October 19th. The city’s
mandate just weeks after Centennial officials had approved CannaMart’s
business license. The case marks a first for Colorado as the inaugural
challenge to a municipality’s ability to impose land use restrictions
that prohibit state-registered medical marijuana caregivers from
dispensing medical marijuana within municipal boundaries.
Relying on well established Colorado case law, the plaintiffs'
attorneys argue that home rule municipalities, including Centennial,
are prohibited from imposing prohibitions against rights, including
medical marijuana, protected under the state Constitution as “matters
of statewide concern.” Medical marijuana has been legal in
Colorado since 2000, when a majority of voters approved a constitutional
amendment allowing individuals suffering from debilitating medical
conditions to legally consume and purchase marijuana. The amendment
also legalized the sale, distribution, storage, transportation,
production, and cultivation of the medicine by caregivers.
WHAT: Arapahoe County District Court Judge Christopher Cross to
hear challenge to the City of Centennial’s decision to shut
down CannaMart.
WHEN: Friday, December 18, 2009, 1:30 p.m. Plaintiffs and their
team of four attorneys, led by Bob Hoban and Robert J. Corry, Jr.,
will be available for comment before and after the hearing.
WHERE: Arapahoe County District Court, Courtroom 405, Judge Christopher
Cross, 7325 S. Potomac St., Centennial, CO.
Click
here to read complaint
|
