U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court Rejects Medical Marijuana Appeal
Posted May 18, 2009, 11:34 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a challenge to California’s medical marijuana law.
San Diego County had sought to overturn the state’s medical marijuana laws in “a last, long-shot chance” before the Supreme Court, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. San Diego County, joined by San Bernardino County, claimed state laws requiring counties to issue medical identification cards should be trumped by federal laws barring marijuana use.
A state appeals court had ruled the ID card laws aren’t an impediment to federal laws because the latter are designed to combat recreational drug use, not state medical practices, the Associated Press reports.
Graham Boyd, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Drug Law Reform Project, applauded the decision declining cert. “Coupled with the Department of Justice's recent pronouncements that the agency will respect state medical marijuana laws, the court's order leaves ample room for states to move forward with enacting and implementing independent medical marijuana policies," he said in a press release.
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