Breaking: Oakland Harborside Health Center now in jeopardy

Oakland's attempt to block the federal government's shutdown of the nation's largest medical marijuana dispensary has gone up in smoke.

A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected the city's intervention in the U.S. Justice Department's effort to close down Oakland's Harborside Health Center, concluding that the legal move interferes with the federal government's powers under forfeiture laws to move against what it considers illegal activity. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a unanimous three-judge ruling, found Oakland had a right to sue, but that its legal arguments would undercut federal drug enforcement powers.

The 9th Circuit was reviewing a 2013 lower court ruling tossing out Oakland's lawsuit, which argues that a federal government shutdown of one of four city-approved and regulated medical marijuana outfits harms the city's interests and clashes with California's 1996 law permitting medical pot use.

Despite that ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria Elena James has...

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