Orange County (CA) Register, November 29:
Superior Court Judge William Nevitt in San Diego has issued a preliminary ruling denying a lawsuit by San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino counties seeking to overturn Proposition 215, California’s medical marijuana law approved by voters in 1996. The counties had sought to have the law voided because it conflicts with federal law, which does not recognize medical uses for marijuana and prohibits any use or possession of marijuana.
Judge Nevitt ruled that since Prop. 215 does not require residents or officials to do something specifically banned by federal law, it shouldn’t be overturned.
This attempt to overturn a state law approved by voters because of conflict with federal law turns our constitutional system on its head. The founders wrote a Constitution that gave all powers and freedoms not granted exclusively to the central government to the states and to the people. The idea was to make the states “laboratories of democracy” in which different approaches to issues could be tried, tested and refined.
In fact, although it’s doubtful most current courts would agree, there’s a stronger case that the federal drug laws themselves are unconstitutional than that California and 10 other states are forbidden to temper the drug war with sensible compassion toward seriously ill people.
We hope Judge Nevitt sticks to his guns in his final ruling, due in 90 days or so.