SAN FRANCISCO: A court ruling on Monday in California could change the landscape of marijuana shops in the state. The court said that cities in the state have the ability and the legal authority to ban pot shops in their jurisdictions, which could be yet another step toward reducing what had been a strong medical marijuana sector. Nearly 17 years after voters in the state legalized medical marijuana, the court ruled unanimously in a legal challenge to a ban the city of Riverside enacted in 2010. The advocacy group Americans for Safe Access estimates that another 200 jurisdictions statewide have similar prohibitions on retail pot sales. Many were enacted after the number of retail medical marijuana outlets boomed in Southern California after a 2009 memo from the US Justice Department said prosecuting pot sales would be a low priority. Still, despite conservatives winning the right to close shops, the number of dispensaries being closed has slowed dramatically in recent months. Sarah, who works at a San Francisco shop said that "more and more customers are coming in over the past couple of years." For her, the ongoing controversy, she told Bikyanews.com, is "unfounded." "Why are people so afraid of weed, pot whatever you call it? It doesn't make any sense. How many high people have killed someone? Not many, if any, but yet we think this is worse than alcohol. Our country needs to grow up," she said. BN
