By David Castellon | Published in Visalia Times-Delta
A Tulare County Superior Court judge said today he wouldn’t issue a temporary restraining order to shut down a medical marijuana collective south of Ivanhoe.
But whether Judge Paul Vortmann will grant a permanent injunction may not be decided until after a trial that likely will happen some time next year, said Bill Romaine, the attorney representing the collective, Foothill Growers, Inc.
Tulare County filed suit asking the the court to force the collective to stop its activities of growing marijuana and distributing it to about 100 members with medical recommendations to smoke of ingest the drugs to treat various medical conditions.
The land leased by the collective is zoned AE-20 (agricultural use with a minimum 20 acres) and officials say county zoning rules don’t allow for growing medical marijuana on agriculturally-zoned land.
Until the matter of a permanent injunction could be settled, the county had sought the temporary injunction against Foothill Growers.