Judge orders Kent’s only medical marijuana shop to close

Kent’s only medical marijuana shop has been ordered to shut down.

A King County Superior Court judge granted a preliminary injunction Friday, directing owner Charles Lambert and his West Hill collective garden, South King Holistic, to cease operations. The order, when finalized, would take effect on March 4.

Lambert and his shop were found to be in violation of the city’s ban against medical marijuana collective gardens. The ruling came after a 78-minute hearing in Kent at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in which both sides delivered extensive arguments for and against the shop.

In the end, Judge Tanya Thorp issued the injunction, finding the shop in violation of the city ban. Lambert has operated the shop within city limits, just east of Pacific Highway South at 2824 S. 252nd St., since Jan. 1, 2013.

Deputy city attorney Pat Fitzpatrick said the case was “simple,” a matter of undisputed facts in relation to the Kent’s zoning law authority, not whether cannabis is illegal.

“The fact is Mr. Lambert is admitting that he operated a collective garden within the CM2 (Commercial Manufacturing) zone and is therefore illegal,” Fitzpatrick told the judge. “There is really no other issue to deal with in this case.

“He is well aware that it is illegal. And this is simply a case where he has decided not to follow the law.”

Kent decided to take action action after the state Supreme Court ruled last May that the city had the legal foundation and the right to ban medical marijuana collective gardens. The state high court decision affirmed earlier rulings by the state Court of Appeals and King County Superior Court.

In addition, the Kent City Council adopted an ordinance in 2012 that – in the interests of public health, safety and welfare – could specifically prohibit medical marijuana collective gardens. Kent also bans recreational marijuana businesses.

The injunction, at least for now, ends a long and emotional legal fight between Lambert and the city.

Douglas Hiatt, a longtime medical marijuana attorney who represented Lambert, expressed his disappointed afterward and wasn’t sure of what his next step would be.

“The city of Kent has had a veritable crusade against medical marijuana,” Hiatt summed up.

According to Fitzpatrick, the city “has gone to great lengths to obtain compliance from Mr. Lambert,” making 14 requests for him to stop operations, some of which were made when he operated at his previous location along Central Avenue. Lambert closed that shop after he received a letter from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, threatening to shut him down because the business sat within 1,000 feet of a school.

The city also issued criminal charges against Lambert, which have been resolved.

Lambert afterward described his legal battle to stay open as “the city’s personal vendetta” against him.

‘We have begged and pleased for Mr. Lambert to comply with our law, like every other other citizen in our city is supposed to,” Fitzpatrick said, “just like Mr. (Deryck) Tsang did once the (state) Supreme Court told him no injunction is good, you have to get out of business.”

The state high court denied a motion last July for reconsideration from Tsang, owner of Herbal Choice Caregivers, of the court decision in May that affirmed the city’s ban against medical marijuana collective gardens. Tsang subsequently closed his Kent business. According to the Supreme Court’s opinion, the state’s medical use of cannabis act (MUCA) grants cities and towns the power to zone the production, processing or dispensing of medical marijuana. Under that state law, the city of Kent enacted a zoning ordinance to prohibit collective gardens within the city limits.

In his rebuttal, Hiatt was steadfast, claiming the city doesn’t have the power to regulate collective gardens, argued that federal and state laws pertaining to pot regulation remain complex, tangled and unresolved. He also said his client has been compliant throughout the ordeal with the city and has the right to an affirmative defense.

“If you issue an injunction here, you’re taking away our affirmative defense, you’re taking away our right to a jury trial on these types of issues relating to marijuana, which the people passed by initiative,” Hiatt told Thorp.

But Fitzpatrick said an affirmative defense is by statute and only applies to state law violation, Fitzpatrick said, adding that no such violation has occurred here and that no criminal charges are pending.

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 of Kent.