Federal Judge Rules California Medical Marijuana Dispensary Can Remain Open

A federal judge has ruled that a medical marijuana dispensary in northern California can remain open, despite efforts by federal prosecutors to close it.

The Harborside Health Center in Oakland, which was featured on the Discovery Channel show “Weed Wars,” calls itself the world’s largest medical marijuana dispensary. Its landlords want to evict the center, because of pressure from federal prosecutors. U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria-Elena James on Monday ruled the government, not the landlords, must evict the center for allegedly violating the federal Controlled Substances Act, Reuters reports.

In October, the city of Oakland sued the federal government, in an effort to allow the center to continue to sell marijuana to its 100,000 patients, the article notes. Closing Harborside would lead to a “health crisis,” the city stated. Oakland expects to collect $1.4 million in taxes from medical marijuana sales this year, according to Reuters.