MediLeaf patrons were met with a simple, but effective sign
Monday at the Gilroy medical marijuana dispensary:
”
Temporarily closed. Please visit our other locations and receive
an additional 10% off.
”
MediLeaf, which opened in November and has dispensaries in
Willow Glen and San Jose, remained open up until last week but
closed Monday following a July 29 prohibitory injunction stopping
operations at the city’s only nonmobile medical marijuana
dispensary at First Street and Westwood Drive.
MediLeaf patrons were met with a simple, but effective sign Monday at the Gilroy medical marijuana dispensary: “Temporarily closed. Please visit our other locations and receive an additional 10% off.”
MediLeaf, which opened in November and has dispensaries in Willow Glen and San Jose, remained open up until last week but closed Monday following a July 29 prohibitory injunction stopping operations at the city’s only nonmobile medical marijuana dispensary at First Street and Westwood Drive.
“This is what the city was seeking,” said City Administrator Tom Haglund.
The city recently served each of the defendants with Santa Clara County Judge Kevin McKenney’s order, said Haglund.
Andy Faber, who represents the city of Gilroy in this case, had been working with MediLeaf’s attorney to reach an “amicable shutdown,” after the county’s superior court ruling, Haglund added.
The dispensary remained open Friday but was no longer taking new members, staff members said. MediLeaf’s San Jose locations continue to take new members and the collective has more than 6,000 total, said Batzi Kurburovich, one of MediLeaf’s directors.
The City of Gilroy filed suit against MediLeaf shortly after the dispensary opened Nov. 9. As of May 31, the city had spent $102,861 on litigation related to the matter. However, the city has not released more recent information on legal costs.
“All of us here are not knowing what’s going on,” said Justin Wendelendt, who was working Friday at the front counter of Gilroy’s dispensary. “We’re just sitting ducks.”
At about 1 p.m. Monday, an employee sat at a small table outside the dispensary, collecting signatures of those in support of keeping the dispensary open. The employee, who would not give her name, said more than a dozen people had stopped by to sign the petition within the past hour.
“We have no intention of violating any court orders but are exploring all legal options available to us,” said Kurburovich.
He added in a written statement that MediLeaf has “provided convenient and safe access to medicine, it has created jobs, paid taxes, filled vacant space, reduced illicit transactions, cleaned up and added security to the Plaza strip mall, brought business to Gilroy, donated to the Gilroy Community, donated medicine to less fortunate patient/members and donated money and food to local homeless individuals.”
MediLeaf’s attorney was out of his office Monday and could not be reached. He did, however, file a notice of appeal on MediLeaf’s behalf the day after the judgment was filed, according to court documents.
“We’ll see what happens with that,” Haglund said.
Though their sign said that they were “temporarily” closed, it is unclear if MediLeaf will try to reopen. If they do, the city has the option to take them back to court for violating a court order, Faber said.
Councilman Perry Woodward said a prohibitory injunction indicates the dispensary can be shut down even if MediLeaf appeals the matter.
Woodward, who is an attorney, wondered whether MediLeaf would seek to move to another location in Gilroy, operate a mobile dispensary in town or make deliveries to Gilroy from its two other locations in San Jose.
The injunction came after McKenney issued an eight-page order July 20 upholding the city’s decision to prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries within the city and determined MediLeaf was operating illegally.
Previously, Superior Court Judge Kevin Murphy had allowed MediLeaf to remain open while litigation was pending, rejecting the city’s request for a Dec. 15 preliminary injunction.
