Pubdate: Sat, 23 May 2009
Source: Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
Copyright: 2009 The Press-Enterprise Company
Contact: http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/letters_form.html
Website: http://www.pe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/830
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

POT PRETENSE

San Bernardino County no longer has any reason to defy state rules on 
medical marijuana. The U.S. Supreme Court this week ended the 
county's politically driven crusade against the law. And the justices 
scrapped any remaining justification for the county's stalling on 
medical marijuana.

The county should start by issuing ID cards to patients with a valid 
claim to medical marijuana, just as other California counties have 
done. County officials may object to the idea of legal marijuana, but 
that fact does not spare the county from obeying the law.

And county officials have no more excuse for balking on an issue 
settled by voters and the courts. Voters legalized marijuana for 
medical uses with Prop. 215 in 1996. A 2003 state law setting 
regulations on medical pot requires counties to issue the cards, 
which identify legal users.

But three years ago, San Bernardino and San Diego counties challenged 
the law in court, contending that federal law against marijuana use 
trumps state law. State courts rejected that argument, ruling that 
the counties could enforce state law without violating federal law. 
And this week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the counties' 
appeal, leaving the lower court rulings intact.

The end of the case means taxpayers will no longer have to foot the 
bill for the county's wasteful campaign against medical marijuana. 
The county's objections to the law always had more to do with 
political posturing than any legal issue.

And the revelations of the past year about the misconduct in the 
county assessor's office under Bill Postmus suggest that county 
government has more crucial challenges than preventing the ill from 
smoking pot. But the county always had better uses for its time and 
money than waging a political war on state law.

The voters and now the courts have spoken. San Bernardino County 
should comply, and move on to more pressing public needs.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom