COUNTY TO APPEAL MEDICAL-MARIJUANA RULING

Supervisors Again Cite Clash With Federal Law

A week after a Superior Court judge threw out their case against
California's medical-marijuana laws, San Diego County's supervisors
have voted to appeal the ruling.

The case will be sent to the 4th District Court of Appeal, with
county lawyers again arguing that San Diego County should not have to
enforce state laws that conflict with federal laws.

Superior Court Judge William R. Nevitt Jr. "kind of gave us the
politically correct opinion that we ignored the will of the voters,"
Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Horn said. "Maybe the 4th District
will give us an answer."

In January, San Diego County sued the state of California rather than
implement medical-marijuana laws that permit qualified patients to
smoke and grow marijuana and require counties to issue them
identification cards.

The county was later joined by San Bernardino and Merced counties in
trying to overturn Proposition 215, the 1996 initiative approved by
56 percent of voters that permitted the medical use of marijuana.

Merced County supervisors voted Tuesday against appealing Nevitt's
ruling. Instead, the county will begin issuing verification cards to
patients as soon as next month, a county spokesman said.

Marijuana remains illegal under federal drug laws. But Nevitt ruled
that the state laws do not conflict with national statutes because
they do not require that people break the law.

What's more, Nevitt's ruling noted, the state law does not prohibit
federal officials from arresting and prosecuting anyone they suspect
of violating federal drug laws.

Adam Wolf, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which
is co-defending the case with the state Department of Justice, said
the appeal will waste taxpayer resources.

"The law is clear," Wolf said. "The federal government cannot force
the states to criminalize medical marijuana."

Supervisor Dianne Jacob said the county filed the appeal to resolve
the conflict between state and federal drug laws. "We are not hiring
any outside counsel or outside experts," she said. "These are our
lawyers, and they were being paid anyway."

Tuesday's closed-session vote to appeal was 4-1, with Supervisor Ron
Roberts opposed. It is unclear when the appeal will be filed or when
the appellate judges will consider the case.

Supervisor Greg Cox said he supported the county's issuing ID cards
to qualified patients, but when that vote failed 3-2 late last year,
he decided to go along with the lawsuit.