Judge Says Counties Must Follow State Medical Marijuana Law
A San Diego County Superior Court judge on Thursday issued a preliminary ruling that rejected a lawsuit by three counties that have refused to follow California's medical marijuana laws because they conflict with federal statutes, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports (McDonald, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11/17).
San Diego, San Bernardino and Merced counties sued the state to object a 2003 law that requires counties to issue identification cards to applicable medical-marijuana patients (Los Angeles Times, 11/17).
Federal law prohibits all uses of marijuana, but the court decision maintained that states are not mandated to enforce federal laws (San Diego Union-Tribune, 11/17)
Judge William Nevitt has 90 days to issue his final ruling (Ashton, Modesto Bee, 11/17).
The 2003 law requiring the identification cards was an amendment to Proposition 215, a 1996 ballot initiative that gave state residents the right to "obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes" (San Diego Union-Tribune, 11/17).
KQED's "The California Report" on Friday reported on the case. The segment includes comments from Allen Hopper, an attorney for ACLU, and Walter Wall, deputy counsel for Merced County (Goldberg, "The California Report," KQED, 11/17).
Audio of the segment is available online.