Supreme Court Upholds Right to Medical Marijuana

California Medical Marijuana ID Card

When California passed its Medical Marijuana law some years ago, three counties steadfastly refused to issue identification cards to patients, San Diego, San Bernardino, and Merced. San Diego argued that federal law, which does not recognize medical marijuana usage, supersedes state law. San Diego lost that argument in a state trial and in the appellate courts. The California Supreme Court refused to hear the case. Merced dropped out of the case.

San Diego and San Bernardino decided to take a long-shot gamble to attempt to to have the U.S. Supreme Court hear the case. The United States Supreme Court refused to hear the case upholding the rights of medical marijuana patients. This is a landmark decision, or non-decision that paves the way for Medical Marijuana to be the law of the land in California.

To anyone who has followed the unethical actions of the San Diego and San Bernardino Supervisors over the past three years, the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear their appeal shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, the counties’ vapid arguments had previously been struck down — unanimously — by the Superior Court of the State of California in the 4th District Court of Appeals.

In addition, the Legislative Counsel of California, the state Attorney General’s Office, and a majority of the California legislature had also previously determined that local politicians and law enforcement were obligated to uphold the provisions of California’s medical marijuana laws. Finally, California’s constitution is also quite clear on this point — mandating that police have a sworn duty to uphold state law, not to enforce federal statutes.

Let’s be blunt: San Diego and San Bernardino’s protracted lawsuits — lawsuits that arguably cost county taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars and jeopardized the health and safety of thousands (if not tens of thousands) of citizens — were never about resolving legal ambiguity. Rather, it was about the arrogance and recalcitrance of those who willfully chose to abuse their power and position to hamstring the will of the voters, the legislature, and the courts.

And while this particular legal battle is now over, our outrage shouldn’t be. We now know that Medical marijuana, if used in its proper form as an ingestible medication (Hemp Oil with THC) kills cancer cells. It is being proven all over the world, It is time that the US lift Gerald Ford's 1975 ban on anyone being allowed to test marijuana in the U.S. other than pharmaceutical companies, and launch a full testing program to confirm the miraculous properties of this natural herb.


















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