POT PRETENSE

San Bernardino County no longer has any reason to defy state rules on
medical marijuana. The U.S. Supreme Court this week ended the
county's politically driven crusade against the law. And the justices
scrapped any remaining justification for the county's stalling on
medical marijuana.

The county should start by issuing ID cards to patients with a valid
claim to medical marijuana, just as other California counties have
done. County officials may object to the idea of legal marijuana, but
that fact does not spare the county from obeying the law.

And county officials have no more excuse for balking on an issue
settled by voters and the courts. Voters legalized marijuana for
medical uses with Prop. 215 in 1996. A 2003 state law setting
regulations on medical pot requires counties to issue the cards,
which identify legal users.

But three years ago, San Bernardino and San Diego counties challenged
the law in court, contending that federal law against marijuana use
trumps state law. State courts rejected that argument, ruling that
the counties could enforce state law without violating federal law.
And this week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the counties'
appeal, leaving the lower court rulings intact.

The end of the case means taxpayers will no longer have to foot the
bill for the county's wasteful campaign against medical marijuana.
The county's objections to the law always had more to do with
political posturing than any legal issue.

And the revelations of the past year about the misconduct in the
county assessor's office under Bill Postmus suggest that county
government has more crucial challenges than preventing the ill from
smoking pot. But the county always had better uses for its time and
money than waging a political war on state law.

The voters and now the courts have spoken. San Bernardino County
should comply, and move on to more pressing public needs.