COUNTY TO SUE OVER PROP. 215 IN FEDERAL COURT

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted in closed session
Tuesday to file a federal lawsuit against the state of California in
an attempt to overturn Prop. 215, which, approved by voters in 1996,
established a patient's right to obtain, grow and use marijuana with
a doctor's recommendation.

County Counsel John Sansone told CityBeat that the county's
challenge--soon to be filed in federal court--will argue that "the
state law is preempted by the federal Controlled Substances Act law,
which makes the use of medical marijuana a crime.

"Federal law is supreme and prevails over state law," he said. "If
one could show, which we will be attempting to show, that the state
law is conflicting with the federal law or is antagonistic to the
federal law, then courts in the past have ruled that state laws are
federally preempted and have no force or effect."

The decision comes one month after supervisors voted to sue the state
using a similar argument over SB 420, legislation passed in 2004 that
requires counties to issue medical marijuana identification cards to
qualifying patients. At that Nov. 8 meeting, Sansone told supervisors
he didn't think they would win the legal challenge but was also asked
to research the possibility of challenging Prop. 215.

Told of the decision by CityBeat, medical marijuana activist Barbara
MacKenzie said she's not surprised, given the supervisors' earlier
direction to their legal counsel, but said she finds it ironic that
the supervisors believe it's their duty to challenge California law
when, as elected officials, they should be concerned with upholding the law.

"It blows me away that they'd go against state's rights and the
proposition process," she said, "as if they're not accountable to the
people who elected them."

In 1996, 55.6 percent of voters statewide, and 52.1 percent of voters
countywide, cast ballots in favor of Prop. 215.

Sansone told CityBeat he thinks both challenges are unprecedented and
amount to an "uphill battle."

"This will be a difficult case," he said. "This is not something
where we can point to any other court rulings that will be completely
in support, or, for that matter, against us."

MacKenzie said she thinks a challenge to Prop. 215 will only help
pro-medical marijuana activists rally more supporters than a lone
challenge to SB 420.

Supervisors voted 4-0, with Supervisor Ron Roberts absent, to
challenge Prop. 215.