News & Columns > G.T. Houts > Medical Marijuana ID Cards Still On Hold (Update 4)

Medical Marijuana ID Cards Still On Hold (Update 4)

Supervisors Take No Action Following Closed Door Session

By G.T. Houts
Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Update 4 - Wednesday 3:55 a.m.

San Bernardino, CA - The issuance of medical marijuana ID cards in San Bernardino County remains in limbo, after supervisors took no action following a closed door session yesterday.

Sheriff Rod Hoops and county attorneys met with the supervisors to discuss alternatives, following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month upholding California law.

But once the closed session concluded, supervisors announced no decision had been reached on bringing the county into compliance with Proposition 215.

Update 3

San Bernardino, CA – About three dozen protesters, including a handful of patients, urged the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors to immediately begin issuing medical marijuana cards in wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision to not consider the county's challenge.

Supervisors explained to those in attendance at the regular board meeting that they planned to discuss the issue with legal counsel June 2 and would then make a decision on how to proceed.

Supervisor Josie Gonzales commented to the protesters that she would make the issue a top priority when the board gathered again.

Update 2 - Tuesday 5:15 a.m.

San Bernardino, CA - As many as 50 medical marijuana proponents are expected to stage a protest at the county government center today following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision not to hear the county's challenge to the state's medical marijuana laws.

Crestline resident Scott Bledsoe told media representatives the protest is to urge the county to press supervisors to immediately begin issuing medical marijuana cards.

San Bernardino County Government Center (Photo by Michael P. Neufeld.)

County spokesperson David Wert has indicated the county won't take any action until at least June 2 when it meets with its legal counsel.

Bledsoe, who has filed suit against the county to follow state mandated issuance of the identification cards, called the ruling by the high court a help to his litigation filed in January.

Update - Monday 2:12 p.m.

San Bernardino, CA- San Bernardino County supervisors will be updated on today's Supreme Court decision to not take up its challenge to California medical marijuana laws early next month.

"The county has no reaction at this time," spokesperson David Wert told RIMOFTHEWORLD.net. "Our attorneys will brief the supervisors, most likely June 2, and discuss options and advise them on what the county's next step in the process should be."

The presentation by county legal counsel will be in closed session," Wert explained.

Original Story

Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Supreme Court announced today it will not take up San Bernardino County's challenge to California's medical marijuana laws.

San Bernardino County and San Diego County had filed a 47-page petition with the high court on Monday, January 12 and the court refused to hear their appeal. The document argued that the Supreme Court has never directly ruled on whether the state's law preempts the federal controlled substances law.

The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. (Photo by Steve Petteway/Wikimedia Commons.)

The appeal by the two counties was a last, long-shot chance that the Supreme Court would take up the case. The appeal has now been denied.

For more than three years, San Bernardino County has been fighting in court to overturn state laws that require counties to issue medical marijuana identification cards.

San Bernardino County has declined to issue medical marijuana cards like this one from Marin County. (Photo by Nirmal Thacker/Wikimedia Commons.)

Both counties have lost suits filed in state trial and appellate courts, and the California Supreme Court declined to consider the case, also.

The next step may be the issuance of medical marijuana ID cards under Proposition 215 that California voters approved in 1996 and was authorized by legislation in 2004.

At the current time, only San Bernardino and San Diego County have declined to issue the identification cards.