US Supreme Court Upholds Medicinal Marijuana – Throws Out San Diego County’s Appeal

Editor: A major victory was scored today by medicinal marijuana advocates at the US Supreme Court. The Supreme Court refused to hear our very own San Diego County government’s attempt not to have to issue medical marijuana identification cards. The County appealed earlier lower court decisions that upheld California state law that required our County – and all others – to put together an medicinal marijuana ID card program that would allow patients to enter dispensaries and prove their illness to police.

This is yet another set back for our very conservative County Board of Supervisors – who used taxpayers’ money to file their appeals – not only at the US Supreme Court, but also at the California Supreme Court earlier, and to wage this unprincipled, retrograde battle before all the other lower courts – just to simply prevent patients from having access to a natural herb with proven medicinal powers. How much longer are we, the citizens of this huge county, going to allow this cabal of Republican reactionary dinosaurs to speak for us?

by Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post / May 18, 2009

The U.S. Supreme Court handed medical marijuana patients and advocates a resounding victory on Monday, refusing to hear a case brought by San Diego County, which has long chafed at implementing statewide medical marijuana laws.

The state of California, in an effort to systematize the 1996 voter-approved initiative, required localities to implement identification card programs for patients with doctor approval in 2004. Such ID cards are required to enter medical marijuana shops in California and can be shown to police officers who find patients in possession of marijuana.

San Diego County, however, argued that the federal ban on marijuana trumps the state law, meaning they are not required to follow the state law. The county filed suit in 2006. Both the San Diego Superior Court and the Fourth District Court of Appeals rejected the argument, which was followed by the California Supreme Court’s refusal to review the case in 2008.

The San Diego Board of Supervisors voted to appeal to the Supreme Court.

“The courts have made clear that federal law does not preempt California’s medical marijuana law and that local officials must comply with that law,” said Joe Elford, chief counsel with Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a national medical marijuana advocacy group with a large presence in California. “No longer will local officials be able to hide behind federal law and resist upholding California’s medical marijuana law.”

It is not the job, in other words, of local cops or municipalities to enforce federal laws. In fact, the federal government has never made such an argument. The California counties acted on their own.

The Supreme Court ruling, following the Obama administration’s decision not to raid medical marijuana clubs acting in accordance with state law, removes one of the last barriers to full implementation of the state law.

ASA has now given notice to 10 conservative holdout counties (Colusa, Madera, Mariposa, Modoc, Mono, San Bernardino, San Diego, Solano, Stanislaus, and Sutter) of their legal obligation to implement the ID card program. In January 2009, ASA, something of an industry trade group, filed a lawsuit in January against Solano County for its refusal to implement the state ID card program.ASA was joined by the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project in assisting the California Attorney General in the case against San Diego. San Bernardino teamed with San Diego.

“The Supreme Court and the lower courts in California have blown away the myth that federal law somehow prevents states from legalizing medical marijuana,” said Rob Kampia, executive director for the Marijuana Policy Project.

Thirteen states have laws that allow certain folks to use medical marijuana if their doctor recommends it. Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York are currently considering medical marijuana bills in their state legislatures.