Pot shot? Florida court will have final word on Miami's tacit ban on marijuana
More than two and a half years after two entities applied to open a Miami dispensary, a federal judge has sent the fight over the city's refusal to license medical marijuana sales back to state court.
The City of Miami's five-year refusal to license a single medical marijuana dispensary is headed back to state court, after a federal judge ruled the dispute belongs there rather than in his courtroom, according to reporting from Miami New Times. The case centers on MRC44, LLC and 60 NE 11th, LLC, entities managed by Los Angeles entrepreneur Romie Chaudhari, which applied in February 2019 for a certificate to open a dispensary at 90 NE 11th St. in the Park West neighborhood.
Florida legalized medical marijuana by constitutional amendment in 2016, but Miami has not issued a dispensary permit since. The city's stated rationale is that the federal Controlled Substances Act, which classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug, overrides the state's legalization — a position the plaintiffs dispute, arguing that state law controls how the city must treat dispensary applications.
U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore remanded the case to state court in September 2021, ruling, in the outlet's account, that 'state law is clear' and that the matter belongs there rather than in federal court. Miami City Commissioner Ken Russell said the ruling shows 'state law prevails in this moment,' according to the reporting.
A years-long stalemate
Miami's Planning and Zoning Appeals Board had actually voted to approve the dispensary in February 2021 — before the case was remanded — but the city commission has repeatedly declined to finalize the matter. On December 9, 2021, the commission deferred a resolution on the dispute until January, with a hearing then scheduled for January 14, 2022 in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit.
What the state court fight will decide
The remand means a state judge, not a federal one, will now decide whether Miami's practice of never approving a dispensary application amounts to an unlawful de facto ban on a business the state has explicitly legalized. Neither the city nor the plaintiffs' final arguments before that state court hearing were detailed in the available reporting.
US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by Miami New Times. It restores a story originally published on this site in December 2021; figures are as reported at the time.