COUNTY POT FIGHT WASTE OF TAX DOLLARS

County Feud With State Marijuana Law Costly

Among the list of most-wasteful government expenses at a time of
fiscal crisis must be San Diego County taking its fight against the
state's medical marijuana law to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Few things get us as riled as a blatant waste of taxpayer money;
especially when it is used to fight the will of the people. And it
seems all the more senseless at a time when state and local
governments are cash-poor.

In an effort led by North County's 5th District Supervisor Bill Horn,
the county sued the state in 2006, but lost that battle at various
levels of the state judiciary and ultimately, in the California
Supreme Court in October. On Friday, the county filed an appeal to
the nation's highest court.

Pursuing a lawsuit through the state and federal court systems is a
long and costly process -- and it becomes all the more maddening when
federal officials (the ones who really ought to be testing this
particular case) are apparently reluctant to do so.

We the People spoke on this issue with the passage of Proposition 215
in 1996 -- nearly 13 years ago. Since then, nearly two-thirds of
California's county governments have issued the required ID cards to
allow those living with chronic pain to use pot with a prescription.

Further, California courts have found that federal law against
marijuana use is designed to fight recreational drug use and "not to
regulate a state's medical practices" -- a ruling that various
federal drug enforcement agencies have not challenged.

If federal officials are relatively unconcerned with the California
law allowing medicinal pot, we see no reason for our local
governments to be so.

And our county governors are only caught "in the middle," to borrow
Horn's words, because they have chosen to put themselves there.

We believe our money would be better spent locally than on legal fees
pursuing a futile ight in federal courts.