CALIFORNIA JUDGE DISMISSES HOME POT DELIVERY LAWSUIT

What happened

A judge in California has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to overturn a state rule allowing home deliveries of legal cannabis statewide, even into communities that banned commercial marijuana sales.

What it means

The court challenge raised a fundamental question in the nation’s largest legal pot market: Where can you buy it? The state earlier ruled a licensed delivery can be made into “any jurisdiction” within California. But a group of local governments behind the court challenge argued that the state was usurping their authority to regulate marijuana sales within their borders.

While the cities argued that the state rule “removes local regulatory power,” Fresno County Superior Court Judge Rosemary Mcguire agreed with the state that the regulation and local ordinances “do not occupy the same field and are not in conflict.”

Without a conflict,“this matter is not ripe for adjudication,” she concluded in a Tuesday order.

More details

Mcguire agreed with the state that the regulation applies to state cannabis license- holders, not local governments that filed the lawsuit.

What’s ahead

With the case dismissed, marijuana deliveries will continue under the umbrella of the state rule. But attorney Steve Churchwell, who represented the local governments, said the ruling did not affect the rights of cities and counties to regulate — or prohibit altogether — cannabis deliveries within their borders.

ASSOCIATED PRESS