City of Fresno
In an effort to combat the trend of localities establishing permanent bans
against dispensing medical marijuana, thereby severely restricting safe access,
ASA filed lawsuits in four California
cities: Concord, Fresno,
Pasadena, and Susanville. These
lawsuits challenged a municipality's ability to ban lawful conduct under state
law, and sought declaratory relief (to rescind an unlawful policy). The lawsuit
against Fresno was filed first in
April 2005, and in 2006, the judge stayed the suit pending revisions of the Fresno City Council to the ban language. The other lawsuits were filed in October 2005, and ASA later withdrew them without prejudice. However, ASA will consider refiling these lawsuits at a later date.
