On Thursday, medical marijuana advocacy organization Americans for Safe Access filed suit in federal court challenging what it asserted is the Obama administration's attempt to subvert local and state medical marijuana laws in California.
The action comes in response to an Oct. 7 announcement by California's four U.S. Attorneys, who pledged to take action against criminal marijuana enterprises across the state.
However, groups like Americans for Safe Access said the actions are harming medical marijuana patients and violating California law.
The group argues in its lawsuit that the federal Department of Justice has “instituted a policy to dismantle the medical marijuana laws of the State of California and to coerce its municipalities to pass bans on medical marijuana dispensaries.”
Americans for Safe Access also asserts that the Department of Justice is implementing a policy of aggressive SWAT-style raids, criminal prosecutions of medical marijuana patients and providers, and threats to local officials for merely implementing state law.
“Although the Obama administration is entitled to enforce federal marijuana laws, the Tenth Amendment forbids it from using coercive tactics to commandeer the law-making functions of the State,” said Americans for Safe Access Chief Counsel Joe Elford, who filed the lawsuit Thursday in San Francisco's federal District Court.
Elford said the case is aimed at restoring California's sovereign and constitutional right to establish its own public health laws based on this country's federalist principles.
The lawsuit, which seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, was filed on behalf of its 20,000 members in California who are directly and adversely affected by the Department of Justice's actions.
The U.S. Attorneys have been sending letters to municipalities across the state as part of the enforcement effort.
On July 1, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California sent a letter to Chico Mayor Ann Schwab stating that the city's proposed ordinance regulating medical marijuana dispensaries would violate federal law.
U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner also warned Chico's city attorney, city manager, and police chief that council members and staff could face federal prosecution for its attempts to implement such a law. As a result, the Chico City Council voted on Aug. 2 to rescind its medical marijuana dispensary ordinance.
On Aug. 15, the Eureka City Council received a letter from U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California Melinda Haag that was similar to that sent to Chico, warning that its regulation of medical marijuana dispensaries violates federal law.
The Eureka letter stated that the city's publicly vetted licensing scheme “threatens the federal government's efforts to regulate, the possession, manufacturing, and trafficking of controlled substances.” The letter added that, “If the City of Eureka were to proceed, this office would consider injunctive actions, civil fines, criminal prosecution, and the forfeiture of any property used to facilitate a violation of [federal law].”
The city of Eureka subsequently suspended implementation of its local ordinance, and regulatory efforts in other areas – Arcata, El Centro, Sacramento and other municipalities across the state – have similarly been derailed.
After a referendum was presented against its medical marijuana dispensaries ordinance, the Lake County Board of Supervisors – with members referring to the federal enforcements – rescinded the ordinance on Oct. 18. That means dispensaries cannot operate in the county, according to county officials.
On Oct. 13, the Drug Enforcement Administration conducted an early morning raid at Northstone Organics, a fully-licensed cultivation collective in Mendocino County, which has one of the most tightly controlled cultivation ordinances in the state.
The DEA handcuffed the collective's founder and his wife and cut down all 99 plants, which were each zip-tied and registered with the sheriff's department.
Mendocino County Supervisor Josh McCowen has called the DEA raid on Northstone “outrageous,” and said, “The elimination of dispensaries that operate legally and openly will endanger patients and the public.”
State Senator Mark Leno has urged the federal government “to stand down in it massive attack on medical marijuana dispensaries,” and on Oct. 21, state Attorney General Kamala Harris issued a statement renouncing the federal government's tactics, claiming that “an overly broad federal enforcement campaign will make it more difficult for legitimate patients to access physician-recommended medicine,” and urging “federal authorities in the state to adhere to the [DOJ's] stated policy” of allowing California to implement its medical marijuana laws without federal interference.
Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews, on Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .
How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
