[OG Kush]

The ACLU and other groups moved Friday to intervene in a San Diego lawsuit that seeks to overturn California's Proposition 215, which makes medical marijuana legal for patients with a doctor's recommendation.

San Diego, San Bernardino and Merced counties argue in the suit, filed in state court, that federal laws prohibiting all use of marijuana invalidate state laws allowing qualified patients to use medical marijuana.

The ACLU, Americans for Safe Access and the Drug Policy Alliance filed legal papers Friday seeking to intervene in the proceedings on behalf of several medical marijuana patients and patients' groups, as well as their caregivers and doctors.

"These counties have turned a deaf ear to the pleas of sick and dying people, and now they have shown that they are equally willing to ignore the law," said Joe Elford, ASA's chief counsel. "ASA is stepping in to ensure the rights of patients are protected and that the will of the people is upheld."

The suit challenges state laws permitting patients to use, and doctors to recommend, medical marijuana under the explicit protection of state law.

The lawsuit further challenges the state's Medical Marijuana Program Act, which calls for the implementation of an identification card program that would allow police and others to identify legitimate medical marijuana patients.

Proposition 215 was approved by California voters in 1996.


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Source: 420Times.com
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