Judge rejects San Diego County medical marijuana challenge
By: GIG CONAUGHTON - Staff writer | ∞
SAN DIEGO ---- A Superior Court judge issued a tentative ruling today rejecting the County of San Diego's argument that California's medical marijuana law should be overturned.
Judge William R. Nevitt, who is scheduled to hear arguments in the controversial case at 1:30 p.m. today, issued a tentative ruling at 11 a.m.
Nevitt's ruling rejected the county's argument that California's decade-old, voter-approved law should be overturned because it conflicted with federal law.
San Diego County supervisors filed a lawsuit in state court in December 2005 after refusing to comply with state orders to create an identification card and registration program for medical marijuana users.
California is one of 11 states where voters have said seriously-ill people should be allowed to legally use marijuana to ease their suffering if they have a doctor's recommendation.
Federal law says marijuana has no medicinal value and is illegal for anyone to use.
The county argued that the California law should be "pre-empted" by federal law, which says all marijuana use is illegal, under the U.S. Constitution's "Supremacy Clause," which says federal laws should be "supreme" over state laws.
Nevitt, however, said in his tentative ruling that the county's argument ignored the corollary to the Supremacy Clause that held in matters where states traditionally legislate, state law is considered pre-eminent.
Nevitt also ruled out the county's argument that the state's order for counties to issue identification cards for medical marijuana users should be overturned.
Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com.
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Smoke It! wrote on Nov 16, 2006 3:41 PM:If they want to go against something why not big buisness alcohol and cigarettes which kill way more people every year than all illegal drugs combined. The war on drugs doesn't work nor has it ever worked. Do the reseach you'll see for yourself.
LOLO wrote on Nov 16, 2006 5:52 PM:finally a judge with some common sense, alcohol should be banned due to how many people it kills every day.
yeah wrote on Nov 16, 2006 6:48 PM:keep smokin it and your future will whisp away just like the smoke. You'll just get a knock on your door from a fed instead of a local cop.
Don't get it wrote on Nov 17, 2006 9:06 AM:Why in the world does anyone care what someone does to his/her own body, to the point that a law is needed to deal with it? Don't get me wrong: if someone drives under the influence, or behaves dangerously in any way under the influence of (or to get) drugs, that behavior should be dealt with to the full extent of the law, which is about protecting the public. But the use itself? Not our business. It's amusing to see liberals and conservatives switching roles here: conservatives wanting government to intrude in private affairs, the liberals libertarian.
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