Americans for Safe Access Files Lawsuit
Recently Americans for Safe Access has sued the United States Attorney General and the AG in the Bay to stop raids and threats to close down shops. Based in Oakland, Americans for Safe Access is an advocacy/tank that’s for the safe and legal access to medical marijuana to those who need it.
The suit raises the federal question on the Constitution’s 10th amendment. For those who may have fell asleep in high school civics/government, the 10th Amendment is the source in which Congress may not exercise power in a fashion that impairs states’ integrity or their ability to function effectively in a federal system. It’s why marriage laws are different, and it’s why some things like gambling is legal.
The heat in California is undeniably on when it comes to cracking down medial marijuana operations. Every time I watch the news, it seems like it’s almost always a topic.
“They’re not just enforcing marijuana laws, they are doing something extremely unusual in an effort to quash the medical marijuana programs in the various states,” said Joe Elford, chief counsel for Americans for Safe Access. “They’re not allowed to commandeer the lawmaking functions of the state.”
In 1996, California voters approved of an initiative which allows for the medical use of marijuana. But under federal law, the substance remains illegal for all other uses. This obviously puts local governments and cities in a bind in terms of how things should be regulated.
Elford said that they’ll hope for a preliminary injunction to temporally halt the raids and seizures before having the law settled later.
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