A group of medical marijuana patients, caregivers and collectives have filed a lawsuit against Yuba County, California to stop Ordinance 1518, which deems most medical marijuana cultivation to be a “public nuisance.” The advocacy group Lawmen Protecting Patients sent out a press release recently detailing the lawsuit, and it reads in part:

The coalition submitted amendments to Ordinance 1518 that would have given Yuba County the necessary tools to go after illegitimate growers and still protect safe access for medical marijuana patients in Yuba County. These amendments would have saved the County the expense of litigation, but the County refused to adopt them, forcing the patients into court.

The lawsuit that has been filed seeks a declaration by the court that Ordinance 1518, which went into effect on June 1, 2012, is invalid and unconstitutional, as well as an injunction against enforcement of the invalid ordinance.

“California courts have consistently struck down state and county laws that prevent safe access, unreasonably burden qualified patients or conflict with voter-initiated Prop. 215, and we expect the same in this case,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Jeffrey Lake.

The plaintiffs are Yuba County Growers Association, Sam McConnell, Yuba Patient Collective, Lew Neal, The Old Crow Farm Collective, Kathie Thelen, and Déjà Vu Collective.

“I take care of numerous disabled people including many veterans and seniors without getting one complaint,” said plaintiff Kathy Thelen. “But as the ordinance is currently written, I won’t be able to provide for any of my members, and there’s nowhere else for them to get their medicine ,” she said.

“The ordinance is burdensome and restrictive for organic cultivation. My garden needs more spacing than they’re offering. Making medicine requires a fairer quantity of herb than the spacing allows in the ordinance,” said Lew Neal, who is a retired court reporter.

“If someone is cultivating marijuana in full compliance with state law and have has not generated a complaint, then they shouldn’t be forced to cut their plants down,” said Sam McConnell, President of the Yuba County Growers Association.

The bottom line is that some politicians and elected officials just don’t like marijuana. They have been raised on the cannabis propaganda of the last 75 years and still see marijuana as a dangerous “gateway drug.” But politicians also like their jobs, and if they can be made to see how many voters are unhappy with their actions, they will be more likely to change their actions.

Or they can be replaced.

- Joe Klare