The Ninth District Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that California state law does not protect the state’s medical marijuana shops from the feds. The court made the ruling yesterday in dismissing three lawsuits trying to stop federal prosecution of three California collectives.
Specifically, the dispensaries had argued that federal law enforcement were violating equal protection clauses in the U.S. Constitution.
The court case goes back to 2011, when Sacramento pot collective El Camino Wellness Center, filed suit in U.S. Court. Specifically, they argued that the feds were violating the 10th amendment restricting federal power over states as well as the 9th Amendment, which prohibits the feds from invoking powers they don’t explicitly have.
The Court rejected the decision, so El Camino appealed. Unfortunately, that was three years of wasted energy as the feds clearly don’t give a damn. They ruled that California law doesn’t protect the shops, their landlords or even their customers from criminal charges because pot remains federally illegal.
“Our responsibility as U.S. attorneys is to enforce the Controlled Substances Act,” U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner said in a news release. “Today’s decision rejecting the dispensary’s lawsuit is a straightforward application of existing precedent, which merely confirms that the (act) continues to be in full force and effect, regardless of state law.”