Another victory for common sense in the drug wars. LA Times:
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a conservative challenge to the marijuana legalization laws adopted in Colorado and elsewhere that permit adults to buy, sell or use one ounce of the drug.
By a 6-2 vote, the justices turned away a lawsuit brought by Nebraska and Oklahoma, whose state attorneys complained that illegal marijuana was pouring into their states as a result of Colorado's liberalized laws.
The stink around this lawsuit is, it's based on politics, not policy.
The suit brought by Nebraska and Oklahoma also implicitly challenged the Obama administration for its refusal to intervene more directly in Colorado.
Last year, the justices asked U.S. Solicitor Gen. Donald Verrilli to weigh in on the interstate legal battle over marijuana, and in December, he urged the court to turn away the lawsuit. Nebraska and Oklahoma have not suffered a "direct injury" from their neighbor to the West, he said, and they remain free to vigorously police marijuana in their states.
In other words, knock yourselves out, Nebraska and Oklahoma, enforcing your state drug laws. Is it any coincidence that these states haven't expanded Medicaid, either? Ya think? Maybe it's time for a change of state government to a party that isn't so...uptight.
