2. Federal Court Rules that DEA's Actions in California May be Unconstitutional

On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that the DEA crackdown on medical cannabis in California may not be allowed under the 10th Amendment, saying that enforcement of U.S. drug laws can go too far if it seeks to interfere with state authority.

U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel of San Jose denied a Bush administration request to dismiss the lawsuit by the ACLU, Santa Cruz city and county officials, and members of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM), a patient collective whose medical cannabis was seized by federal agents in a 2002 raid.

Since 1996, the DEA's aggression in California has included raids of locally regulated dispensaries and collectives, property seizure threats to landlords, attempts to intimidate and punish doctors, and prosecutions of patient caregivers. These tactics have come under fire for years by ASA and others as an attempt to undermine California's constitutional right to enact health care policies that protect patients within our state. This ruling in the United States District Court says that we may have been right all along.

The suit claims federal prosecutors have tried to disrupt the California law by targeting critical participants in the state system - doctors who approved their patients' cannabis use, local officials who issued state-approved identification cards to patients, local governments whose zoning allowed dispensaries, and medical cannabis dispensing collectives who cooperated with local governments. Federal authorities' goal, the plaintiffs alleged, is to make it impossible for the state to distinguish between medical and recreational use of cannabis and render the state law unenforceable, interfering with California's constitutional power to enact its own laws.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the federal actions in the past (except for the government's attempt to strip licenses from doctors simply for talking about medical cannabis), Fogel said the plaintiffs in this case may be able to show that the federal government exceeded its constitutional authority by trying to force California to repeal its medical cannabis law. This case addresses the fundamental underlying problem with California's ability to perfect its law: federal interference and undermining of that law. It could be an exciting end to the DEA's attacks on medical cannabis patients in California and across the country!

wrap your lips around THAT and smoke it!!!!
whiskeytango
SnSstealth Reviewed by SnSstealth on . One Large Step!!!!!!!! 2. Federal Court Rules that DEA's Actions in California May be Unconstitutional On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that the DEA crackdown on medical cannabis in California may not be allowed under the 10th Amendment, saying that enforcement of U.S. drug laws can go too far if it seeks to interfere with state authority. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel of San Jose denied a Bush administration request to dismiss the lawsuit by the ACLU, Santa Cruz city and county officials, and members of Rating: 5