I have reported on the ongoing battle in the courts in the matter of a medical marijuana case - Garden Grove vs. Superior Court - which eventually weedled (no pun intended) its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Yesterday, the high court of the land refused to review a landmark decision, wherein California State Courts found that the medical marijuana law was not preempted by Federal Law as previously argued.
Initially, the lower court Justices in the Appellate court issued an "Opinion" on November 28, 2007, that specifically underscored the grounds for their historic ruling.
"It is not the job of the local police to enforce the federal drug laws."
The case arose from an incident in June of 2005 when police charged resident Felix Kha with possession of marijuana (in spite of the fact papers in his possession verified he was a medical marijuana patient entitled to legally use the controlled substance) and proceeded to confiscate Kha's medicine in what was later to be determined as a wrongful seizure.
Medical marijuana advocates who have been vigorously fighting this case in the courts for the past three years, praised the Supreme Court for rendering what they deemed a just decision.
In sum, legal scholars have hailed the ruling as significant because it has underscored law enforcement's obligation to uphold state law.
On the heels of the conclusion of the exhaustive legal wrangling, advocates have theorized that there will now be stricter adherence to state medical marijuana laws by local police - the end result being - that there won't be as many arrests or illegal seizures.
"It's now settled that state law enforcement officers cannot arrest medical marijuana patients or seize their medicine simply because they prefer the contrary federal law," said Joe Elford, Chief Counsel with Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the medical marijuana advocacy organization that represented defendant Felix Kha.
"Perhaps, in the future local government will think twice about expending significant time and resources to defy a law that is overwhelmingly supported by the people of our state."
Don't Bogart that joint, Arnold!
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