Pubdate: Mon, 06 Feb 2006
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2006 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.uniontrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.
Author: Leslie Wolf Branscomb, Staff Writer
Cited: San Diego County Board of Supervisors 
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/general/bos.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/San+Diego+County

COUNTY DROPS ITS FEDERAL LAWSUIT ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA, REFILES WITH STATE

The county has quietly withdrawn its lawsuit over medical marijuana
from federal court, and refiled it in state court.

Medical marijuana advocates saw last week's action as an admission
that the county had no standing to sue in federal court. The county,
however, maintains it was a legal strategy aimed at consolidating lawsuits.

Late last year, the county Board of Supervisors voted 4-0, with Ron
Roberts absent, to challenge state laws permitting use of medical marijuana.

The lawsuit filed Jan. 20 in U.S. District Court challenges
Proposition 215, the voter-approved Compassionate Use Act, claiming
that federal drug laws pre-empt state laws.

The suit also challenged a subsequent law passed by the state
Legislature requiring counties to issue identification cards to
medical marijuana users. San Diego County has refused to do so.

The county asked the federal court to decide whether both laws are
valid.

The county withdrew its lawsuit from federal court Wednesday and filed
another suit in San Diego Superior Court the same day.

The lawsuits are essentially the same, said County Counsel John
Sansone. The new lawsuit still claims that federal laws prohibiting
drug use and possession, and an international treaty governing drug
policy, supersede the state laws.

However, this time the county is also suing the San Diego chapter of
NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a
nonprofit group advocating legalization of marijuana. The county says
the move against NORML is a pre-emptive move.

NORML has threatened to sue the county over its refusal to issue
identification cards to medical marijuana users. Sansone said the
county anticipated NORML would file its suit in state court. "That
didn't make much sense to us, to fight this battle in two courts," he
said. "This way everyone who is wanting to litigate this is in one
place."

Allen Hopper, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, said,
"I think the real reason is pretty clear. They recognized there was
absolutely no way they were going to be found to have standing in
federal court. I think they realized that they might as well drop
their suit than suffer the embarrasment of having it thrown out."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake