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By Buffy Pollock for the Mail Tribune February 26. 2015 4:08PM Judge upholds Phoenix's moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries PHOENIX —  More than eight months after city officials requested an emergency injunction against a Phoenix medical marijuana dispensary for illegally operating after the city imposed a moratorium, Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Ron Grensky ruled that the city's moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries inside city limits was "valid and enforceable." Portland attorney Leland Berger, who represents the nonprofit dispensary The Greenery, voiced disappointment with the ruling and the ongoing "limiting of access to medication" for patients in need. While disappointed, Berger also expressed relief that Grensky opted only to rule on a single argument, based on verbiage of the moratorium, rather than issues the case raised about discrepancies between how state and federal law deal with medical cannabis. Specifically, Grensky ruled that the city ordinance, while it did not include exact verbiage required of ordinances by the city charter, was still valid. Ruling that verbiage of an ordinance could render it invalid, Grensky said, would put the city in the position of having a host of illegal ordinances. "I am disappointed that the court concluded that the city doesn't have to follow its own charter, but at the same time I'm relieved that the court didn't strike down House Bill 3460. In the same way that I think the moratorium is not valid, I think that the Federal Controlled Substances Act does not preempt 3460, but the court certainly could have ruled that way," Berger said. "We certainly had concerns that he could have reached a decision that was contrary to what we were arguing so we are relived in that sense that it didn't happen. County judges make those kinds of determinations all the time even though that would be the kind of decision that an appellate court would have to weigh in on." Greenery director Andrea Adams was not available for comment. Berger said he had not discussed the ruling with Adams since it was issued on Wednesday. Ryan Kirchoff, attorney for the city of Phoenix, said he was pleased with the court decision. "The court granted the injunction in favor of the city because they agreed that the ordinance was valid and enforceable. They rejected the challenge to the ordinance regarding the alleged flaws in the enacting language for good reason," Kirchoff said. "The Greenery did not shut down after the moratorium was passed and continued to operate illegally. The city was forced to file suit to get a court-ordered injunction. We feel that this was the right result. The city ordinances were upheld and that's how everything was supposed to work." Buffy Pollock is a freelance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected] . http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20150226/NEWS/150229715 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->