San Diego County filed papers this week asking the U.S. Supreme Court to erase California’s medical marijuana law, arguing that federal prohibitions outlawing the substance supersede California’s law allowing sick people to use it.
County officials sued the state in 2006, arguing that federal law that makes marijuana illegal should trump the 1996 passage of state Proposition 215, which legalized it for patients to use with a prescription. Patients who use marijuana say it helps them treat chronic pain.
In July, California’s 4th District Court of Appeal handed medical marijuana users a victory when it rejected the county’s contention that the state law flies in the face of federal pot prohibitions. The appellate court found that the purpose of the federal law “is to combat recreational drug use, not to regulate a state’s medical practices.”
In October, the California Supreme Court rejected the county’s request that it review the ruling. That left the county with the option of asking the nation’s highest court to step in.
San Diego Deputy County Counsel Tom Bunton said the U.S. Supreme Court might decide by June if it will take the case.
The county’s filing was met with a thumbs down but no surprise from Adam Wolf, the lead attorney for medical marijuana patients opposed to the challenge. Wolf on Friday called the county’s request “a waste” of taxpayers’ money.
Wolf, with the American Civil Liberties Union, represents the San Diego chapter of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. NORML is a defendant in the county’s suit.
How weird is it that the people of California came up with medical marijuana, the people of California voted for medical marijuana, the California legislature has amended medical marijuana, and the California courts have supported medical marijuana, but since five county supervisors in one county don’t like medical marijuana they want five judges in Washington DC to declare the will of the people null and void?
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