Upholding California’s law making cannabis legal, the California Supreme Court has depublished a California Court of Appeal decision in JCCrandall v. County of Santa Barbara, so that it has no effect as precedent.
The California Supreme Court’s action eliminates the Court of Appeal’s suggestion that California’s cannabis regulations were unlawful due to cannabis being unpermitted on the federal level.
“We are pleased the Court agreed to address that Court of Appeal decision at the Department of Cannabis Controls’ request, supporting California law and its legal cannabis industry,” said DCC Director Nicole Elliott.
The case involved the County’s issuance of a permit to a cannabis cultivator whose distribution of cannabis required use of a decades-old roadway easement over an adjacent landowner’s property. The landowner objected to use of the easement for cannabis on the grounds that cannabis is federally illegal.
On January 3, 2025, the Court of Appeal agreed with the landowner in a decision that prohibited use of the easement, preventing issuance of the local permit, and suggested more broadly that California’s cannabis regulations were unlawful because cannabis is federally illegal. Today’s decision rescinds this opinion. Other California courts of appeal have long upheld California’s cannabis regulations, ruling that they do not conflict with federal law. In addition, the California Legislature has provided that commercial cannabis activity conducted in compliance with California law and local standards is lawful, and not a basis for voiding rights secured by an easement.
