Medical Pot Backers Sue Feds Over California Crackdown [View All]

Source: The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Medical marijuana advocates in California sued the federal government Thursday in an effort to quash a recent crackdown on the state's storefront pot dispensaries, claiming government officials have overstepped their constitutional authority by not respecting how local officials have chosen to regulate pot stores and growers.

The lawsuit filed in San Francisco by the advocacy group Americans for Safe Access states that recent raids of licensed dispensaries and letters warning city officials they could be prosecuted for trying to regulate medical marijuana cultivation and sales constitute an illegal power grab under the 10th Amendment. The amendment awards to states legislative authority not explicitly reserved for the federal government.

"ASA does not challenge the congressional authority to enact laws criminalizing the possession and/or control of marijuana, as this issue has been resolved in the government's favor," Americans for Safe Access Chief Counsel Joe Elford wrote in the complaint. "It is, rather, the government's tactics, and the unlawful assault on state sovereignty they represent, that form the gravamen of ASA's claim."

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iZy8vcAQA5a2jrw_aMocwP6JA8xw?docId=629d0222910c4205b8807a589d8b5230

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Let's see how this shakes out. At least they're fighting back.