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ACLU to Protest County's Marijuana Lawsuit
Gig Conaughton | North County Times | 01/23/06

SAN DIEGO -- Several groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, plan to demand today that county supervisors drop their legal challenge of California's 9-year-old medical marijuana law.

Kevin Keenan, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties, said the groups plan to petition county supervisors to start issuing identification cards and registering medical marijuana users -- actions county supervisors already defied when ordered by the state.

Keenan said if the supervisors refuse to withdraw their lawsuit, the ACLU would immediately ask federal judges for permission to join the lawsuit as an opponent -- permission that may or may not be granted.

Officials from the marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access, the Drug Policy Alliance, and local patients who use marijuana as a medicine are also expected to attend today's county board meeting, which begins at 9 a.m. at the County Administration Center in San Diego.

There isn't expected to be much interplay between supervisors and the visiting groups because the issue is not on the board's agenda, meaning supervisors can listen but cannot debate the issue.

On Friday, the county, after a unanimous vote by supervisors in December, filed a precedent-setting lawsuit to overturn California's voter-approved medical marijuana law, Proposition 215, the "Compassionate Use Act."

Supervisors say Prop. 215 should be pre-empted by federal law, which deems all marijuana use illegal and does not recognize the drug as having any medicinal value.

Supervisors have opposed Prop. 215 since it was proposed and passed by voters in 1996. In recent months, they have repeatedly said they just want to settle the contradiction between state and federal law. Prop. 215 legally allows seriously ill Californians to use "obtain and use" marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. But they can still be arrested and prosecuted by federal drug agents.

Marijuana advocacy groups and county officials said Friday that the lawsuit was the first to attempt to overturn any of the voter-approved medical marijuana laws that have been passed in 11 states.

Keenan, meanwhile, said the ACLU was ready to file an "intervention" motion asking to become part of the county lawsuit, to "represent" sick patients who use marijuana as medicine.

The county's lawsuit was filed against the state and Sandra Shewry, director of California's Department of Health Services.

"We will file a motion to intervene and become a party to the lawsuit," Keenan said. "Under the current suit, the county would be represented, and the state would be represented, but there wouldn't be an advocate for the sick and dying people who use medicinal marijuana. And we would make sure that their voices and situations are understood."

Keenan said the ACLU has been following the county's medical marijuana drama with interest, although the group had not testified to the board about it from the time the board publicly decided to sue in December, and when they filed their lawsuit Friday.

The county's lawsuit cites the U.S. Constitution's "Supremacy Clause" -- Article VI, which states that the constitution and federal law would be the "supreme" law of the land -- and a 1961 international treaty as its argument that Prop. 215 should be pre-empted.

The "Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs" treaty, signed by the United States and 150 other nations, ruled marijuana illegal.

Keenan, however, said recent case law -- such as last week's decision to indirectly uphold Oregon's assisted-suicide law -- illustrate that the county's pre-emption argument is hollow.

"This (county lawsuit) is being done for bad political reasons and not good legal reasons," Keenan said.

John Sansone, the county's top lawyer, disagreed, saying the county believes its pre-emption argument is correct.

"That's why there are courts to decide these issues," Sansone said.

Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com. To comment, go to www.nctimes.com.

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