California's medical marijuana laws just received their latest legal vindication today - this time at the nation's highest court. The U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will not be hearing a case lodged by the counties of San Diego and San Bernardino aimed at gutting California's medical marijuana law. The two counties claimed that the federal law banning all marijuana trumped the state's medical marijuana law.

The challenge was initially filed in 2006 at the San Diego County superior court after the counties had refused to implement the state-mandated medical marijuana identification card program. The superior court judge sided with patients and state law and strongly denied the counties' claim. Last year, a state appeals court also ruled against the counties, and the state Supreme Court refused to hear their appeal.

The protracted legal battle has been a popular excuse among California officials trying to shirk their legal obligation to uphold the state's medical marijuana laws. Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided against hearing the case, officials in San Diego, San Bernardino, and seven other counties not following the law have nowhere to go but to obey the will of the voters who overwhelmingly support medical marijuana laws.

Beyond California, the message should now be clear that hiding behind federal law is no longer a legitimate position to take when considering state-level medical marijuana laws.

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Unfazed by three consecutive legal defeats, the California counties of San Bernardino and San Diego last week asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their legal challenge to the state’s 12-year-old medical marijuana law. The 47-page petition – drafted on the public’s dime – is a last ditch effort by the two embattled counties to continue their policy of arresting medical marijuana patients even when the patients are in full compliance with state law.

Their reasoning? Well, all marijuana is illegal under federal law and states do not have the authority to set their own marijuana policies – according to these two rogue counties anyway. Never mind the fact that not a single judge has sided with the counties and that the U.S. Supreme Court has recently denied review of another California ruling which held that local police should enforce state – not federal – law.

This ongoing lawsuit is clearly unpopular with California voters, who overwhelmingly support medical marijuana access. Indeed, scores of citizens have pled with both county boards of supervisors urging them to drop the challenge over the years, and 78% of San Diego voters thought the lawsuit was a waste of money before it was even filed. But these local politicians have apparently determined that fighting this uphill battle is a wise use of public funds, regardless of California’s unprecedented budget crisis.

It does look like the San Bernardino supervisors might be becoming wary of defending their legal challenge, as it appears they violated California’s open meetings law in order to avoid explaining themselves to the public.

San Bernardino's supervisors are no strangers to controversy. In fact, former supervisor and outspoken opponent of medical marijuana Bill Postmus is currently facing charges for methamphetamine possession.

Oh, the irony!

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You may have noticed that many of my reports on this blog are about how some local public officials in California are subverting the state’s medical marijuana laws. Well, today, headlines in California are telling the story of the patients who are fighting some of these scofflaws in court.

In San Bernardino - a county that refused to implement the state’s patient ID card program and sought to overturn the law requiring it to do so – medical marijuana patient Scott Bledsoe filed a lawsuit yesterday requesting that a judge order the county to follow the law.
 

Bledsoe relocated to California from Florida so that he could follow his doctor’s advice to use medical marijuana without fear of arrest. Little did he know that in San Bernardino, he wouldn’t be able to obtain an ID card to prevent his arrest because the county’s sheriff deputies are actually trained to ignore the state's 12-year-old medical marijuana law.

On the same day, on the other end of the state, patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access filed a lawsuit against Solano County for its refusal to follow state law and implement the ID program.

California’s courts have already resoundingly sided with patients on this issue; needless to say, the odds are severely stacked against both San Bernardino and Solano counties.

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