City of Kent tells medical marijuana shops to shut down

Kent city officials want the owners of the three known medical marijuana shops in town to shut down.

City officials plan to send letters to the owners of South King Holistic, 2824 S. 252nd Street; Amazing Gardens, 517 Central Ave. S.; and Herbal Choice Caregivers, 19011 68th Ave. S., that they need to close because they are violation of the city’s ban against medical marijuana collective gardens.

Kent decided last week to take the action to shut down the businesses after the state Supreme Court denied a motion on July 29 for reconsideration from Deryck Tsang, Herbal Choice Caregivers owner, of a court decision in May that affirmed the city’s ban against medical marijuana collective gardens.

“As a result, the appeal is over and the stay of enforcement has been lifted,” said Pat Fitzpatrick, deputy city attorney, in an email.

Fitzpatrick said the city will take steps to get the businesses shut down.

“We anticipate sending letters to store owners in the very near future,” he said last week. “Those letters will request the medical marijuana shops comply with the law and close their doors immediately. If they fail to comply, we will seek injunctions or contempt orders as well as the recovery of our costs in doing so.”

The Seattle-based Cannabis Action Coalition filed the initial lawsuit against the city in June 2012 in an effort to prohibit the city from enforcing its ban on collective gardens because the state regulates medical marijuana collectives, and cities cannot enforce federal law over state medical marijuana laws. The group appealed each of the earlier court decisions at the King County Superior Court and Court of Appeals level. Each of those courts also ruled in favor of the city.

“We are aware of three businesses currently open in Kent,” Fitzpatrick said. “All three businesses are well aware of Kent’s zoning prohibition, and there is no excuse for non-compliance. We continue to hope that these store owners will voluntarily follow the law, even if their past actions have demonstrated an unwillingness to do so, and we are prepared to take action if necessary.”

The Kent City Council voted 4-3 in 2012 to approve an ordinance to ban medical cannabis collective gardens. That decision immediately triggered a lawsuit by the Cannabis Action Coalition and the case of Steve Sarich v. the city of Kent. Sarich delivered a copy of the lawsuit to Mayor Suzette Cooke the night the council passed the ban.

Kent also bans recreational marijuana businesses. No recreational marijuana businesses operate in Kent. A shop sells recreational marijuana in Des Moines, just across the street and up the street from the city of Kent borders.