The Sixth District Court of Appeal held that a medical marijuana dispensary could recover its marijuana plants seized by law enforcement, finding that violation of the ordinance did not render medical marijuana plants “contraband” per se and subject to seizure. Granny Purps, Inc. v County of Santa Cruz, 54 Cal.App.5th 1 (2020).
Under established caselaw, local governments may by zoning ordinance prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries within their jurisdiction. In this case, the County prohibited cultivation of more than 99 medical marijuana plants anywhere within the county limits. Citing violation of this ordinance, local law enforcement seized approximately 2,000 medical marijuana plants from a dispensary.
The court held that the County was required to return the seized plants, reasoning that a local ordinance restricting cultivation of medical marijuana plants does not change the legal status of medical marijuana under...
