KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. — A shopping mall operator is trying to bar a medical marijuana dispensary from opening near a Philadelphia mall.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Simon Property Group, owner of King of Prussia Mall, also owns the former Franklin Mills Mall in northeast Philadelphia now called Philadelphia Mills. Chicago-based PharmaCann LLC bought a former restaurant on the periphery of the mall intending to open a cannabis oil outlet.
Simon Property Group says a deed restriction bars a drugstore. PharmaCann attorneys deny that the dispensary would be a drugstore.
Simon also argued that the deed forbids illegal activity on the premises, and since federal law doesn’t make an exception for medical use of cannabis, a medical marijuana facility would be prohibited. On Tuesday, Simon sought to move the case to U.S. District Court.
