Pot clinics sue city

Two local pot clinics are suing Costa Mesa in Orange County Superior Court to have a citywide ban on marijuana dispensaries declared unconstitutional.

Both dispensaries, Herban Elements Inc. and MedMar Patient Care Collective, operate out of the same office building at 440 Fair Drive.

Herban Elements and MedMar are two of several dispensaries that city officials served with cease-and-desist orders in March, instructing them to close for operating outside the boundaries of their business licenses.

In their complaint, the dispensaries claim that the ban “conflicts with the general laws by completely removing the rights of seriously ill individuals who reside in and around the city of Costa Mesa to obtain the medicine which they need.”

Calls to both dispensaries were not immediately returned Friday. Santa Ana attorneys Christopher Glew and Lee Petros, who are representing the dispensaries, also could not immediately be reached for comment.

Filed April 19 in Superior Court, the lawsuit asks for a declaration from the court that Costa Mesa’s 2005 ban on pot dispensaries flies in the face of the state constitution.

The dispensaries also want the court to force Costa Mesa to stop enforcing the ordinance.

City Manager Allan Roeder said Friday that the city will continue to enforce its ordinance.

“We do very much stand behind our ordinance, we feel that it is constitutional,” Roeder said. “We’re certainly willing to defend that measure and move forward with its continued enforcement.”

The suit is the second legal challenge to a 2005 city ordinance outlawing medical marijuana clinics.

A federal lawsuit filed on behalf of four medical marijuana patients in April challenged city crackdowns on pot dispensaries in Costa Mesa and Lake Forest.

The federal lawsuit claims that the cities have violated their rights to have access to public services, in this case medical marijuana, under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

A U.S. District Court judge is expected to rule on the case some time in the near future.