Pubdate: Thu, 07 Jan 2016
Source: Oklahoman, The (OK)
Copyright: 2016 The Oklahoma Publishing Co.
Contact: http://www.newsok.com/voices/guidelines
Website: http://newsok.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318
Author: Chris Casteel

OKLAHOMA, NEBRASKA AGS LIKEN COLORADO TO 'DRUG CARTEL' OVER POT

WASHINGTON - Oklahoma and Nebraska compared Colorado to a drug cartel 
Wednesday and again urged the Supreme Court to let them sue their 
neighbor over its marijuana production and distribution system.

In sharply written arguments, the two states said Colorado "has 
created a massive criminal enterprise whose sole purpose is to 
authorize and facilitate the manufacture, distribution, sale and use 
of marijuana."

"The State of Colorado authorizes, oversees, protects and profits 
from a sprawling $100 million per-month marijuana growing, processing 
and retailing organization that exported thousands of pounds of 
marijuana to some 36 States in 2014," the states' new brief says.

"If this entity were based south of our border, the federal 
government would prosecute it as a drug cartel."

Oklahoma and Nebraska also blasted the Obama administration for 
arguing that the Supreme Court should not allow the states to sue Colorado.

Supreme Court justices decide what suits are permitted among states. 
They hear the ones allowed to move forward and render rulings in 
them. The court may decide in the next few weeks whether to hear the 
marijuana case.

Oklahoma and Nebraska sought permission more than a year ago to sue 
Colorado, claiming the state's licensing for marijuana production and 
distribution increased the amount of pot in their own states.

Colorado approved Amendment 64 in 2012, which legalized certain 
amounts of personal cultivation and consumption and also established 
a licensing regime for production and retail stores.

'Major exporter'

Oklahoma and Nebraska charged Wednesday that Colorado now calls 
itself a "major exporter of marijuana" and "knows that a large 
portion of the demand for its illegal marijuana comes from residents 
of neighboring states and that as many as half the visitors to 
Colorado are motivated to visit by marijuana."

Colorado told the Supreme Court in March that Oklahoma and Nebraska 
"filed this case in an attempt to reach across their borders and 
selectively invalidate state laws with which they disagree."

The Obama administration argued to the justices last month that the 
complaint filed by Oklahoma and Nebraska is not the kind normally 
considered by the high court.

"This case does not satisfy the direct injury requirement," the 
administration said in its December brief.

"Nebraska and Oklahoma essentially contend that Colorado's 
authorization of licensed intrastate marijuana production and 
distribution increases the likelihood that third parties will commit 
criminal offenses in Nebraska and Oklahoma by bringing marijuana 
purchased from licensed entities in Colorado into those states.

"But they do not allege that Colorado had directed or authorized any 
individual to transport marijuana into their territories in violation 
of their laws.

"Nor would any such allegation be plausible."

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt and Nebraska Attorney General 
Doug Peterson - both Republicans - accused the administration of 
anarchy on Wednesday. In their new filing, they say the federal 
Controlled Substances Act takes precedence over any state laws 
legalizing marijuana.

"Because the current administration does not want to take the 
politically inconvenient position of opposing marijuana legalization, 
nor is it willing to take the legally untenable position that 
Amendment 64 can be reconciled with the CSA, the solicitor general 
instead recommends that this court should refrain from hearing this 
case," the two states said in their new brief.

"Thus, the solicitor general is forced to argue that a state that has 
been harmed as a result of a neighboring state's unconstitutional 
actions has no recourse or remedy for those harms."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom