Oklahoma, Nebraska Challenge Colorado Marijuana Law
February 2016 - Conservatives in two of Colorado's neighboring states want to invalidate part of Colorado's new marijuana laws and the Supreme Court may make a decision soon on whether they will hear the case.
Oklahoma and Nebraska are suing to stop the production and distribution of marijuana within the state of Colorado. Because the lawsuit involves a dispute between states, the plaintiffs are asking that the suit be heard immediately by the Supreme Court.
Some legal scholars question whether the Court will agree to hear the case and indicate that the Court may send it back to a local U.S. District Court.
 (Cultivating Pot in Colorado - image from AP)
The lawsuit argues that Colorado's laws conflict with federal law and contends that the likelihood of third parties committing criminal offenses in Nebraska and Oklahoma has increased because of the increased ability to bring marijuana into the two states from Colorado.
The suit does not ask to overturn Colorado's 2012 ballot initiative which legalized the use and possession of marijuana; rather, it focuses only on the production and distribution of the weed.
Colorado's Attorney General calls the lawsuit "without merit" and will "vigorously defend" Colorado's laws. Other opponents of the lawsuit argue that shutting down legal, regulated, and taxed production and distribution facilities in Colorado will return production and distribution of marijuana to violent criminal organizations.
We always enjoy how conservatives are so quick to discard one of their core principles when it conflicts with a policy position they wish to take. In this case, the principle we refer to is that of states' rights.
For decades, conservatives frequently have tried to challenge federal laws they disagree with by saying that such issues are the prerogatives of the states and that the states should be the ones to make those decisions, not the federal government.
Well, in this case, the voters in the state of Colorado did just that. They made the decision to legalize and regulate marijuana. But, apparently, the conservatives in Oklahoma and Nebraska are so opposed to that decision they decided to abandon their "states' rights" principles and are trying to tell the Citizens of Colorado how the issue of marijuana should be handled.
We'll be anxious to hear how this one plays out.
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