Sheriffs from Colorado, elsewhere sue state over legal pot

[aGameOfThrones]

DENVER (AP) -- Ten sheriffs from three different states sued Colorado Thursday for decriminalizing marijuana — joining a handful of recent legal challenges urging courts to strike down the state's legalization of recreational pot.

The sheriffs from Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska say that Colorado's 2012 marijuana legalization vote violates federal law.

"A state may not establish its own policy that is directly counter to federal policy against trafficking in controlled substance," the sheriffs argue in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Denver.

The lawsuit is the latest legal challenge to legal weed. Nebraska and Oklahoma have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down marijuana legalization in Colorado. The Supreme Court hasn't said yet whether it will hear that case.

A group of Colorado residents have filed their own federal challenge, saying marijuana reduces property values.

The sheriffs note that more than half of Colorado's recreational pot sales last year were sold to out-of-state visitors, according to data from Colorado's marijuana regulators. The sheriffs say the weed is spilling across state lines. Even in Colorado, the sheriffs say, legal weed forces police officers to violate federal drug law.

"The scheme enacted by Colorado for retail marijuana is contrary and obstructive" to federal drug laws, the sheriffs argue.

Marijuana legalization opponents joined a news conference in Washington, D.C., Thursday and praised the legal challenges.

"Although states should be able to determine appropriate penalties, we need uniform federal drug laws regarding legalization," Kevin Sabet, head of the group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said in a statement.

But the lawsuit was brushed off by others, including U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat who supports legal marijuana.

"This lawsuit is a silly attempt to circumvent the will of Colorado voters and is a waste of time," Polis said in a statement.


http://news.yahoo.com/sheriffs-colorado-elsewhere-sue-state-185852133.html

[Uriel999]

So...fuck them...

[The Gold Standard]

We'll soon find out how resolute these states are about defying their federal masters. One of these courts will ultimately rule against Colorado because of the supremacy clause. I'm guessing they will fold like bitches. Better enjoy your legal weed while you can.

[nobody's_hero]

How exactly is weed forcing police officers to violate federal law? Are the officers carrying it across state lines?

[squarepusher]

How exactly is weed forcing police officers to violate federal law? Are the officers carrying it across state lines?

its reducing their budgets! they must be furious.

[anaconda]

How exactly is weed forcing police officers to violate federal law? Are the officers carrying it across state lines?

I don't think the assertion is that the cops are violating federal law, but rather the states are.

[Acala]

We'll soon find out how resolute these states are about defying their federal masters. One of these courts will ultimately rule against Colorado because of the supremacy clause.

Maybe, but it would be a wildly incorrect ruling. Nothing in the Supremacy clause requires that states adopt their own version of Federal law nor does it require the states to enforce Federal law.

[NoOneButPaul]

I'm literally weeks away from starting my grow job here. Fuck these people they have no right to control something found over and over to be less toxic than both alcohol and tobacco. The state's people said they wanted it and a group of 10 people have no right to decide for them that they're wrong. This state is the most beautiful place i've ever been and it's in large part because of how great the people are.

No one here gives a shit, you LOST, get the fuck over it!

[The Gold Standard]

Maybe, but it would be a wildly incorrect ruling. Nothing in the Supremacy clause requires that states adopt their own version of Federal law nor does it require the states to enforce Federal law.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure nearly every ruling in regards to the Constitution has been an incorrect ruling in the last 200 years.

[JK/SEA]

Elvis has left the building, i repeat, Elvis has left the building.

Condensed explanation is....FUCK OFF AND DIE Mr. Sheriff (s)

[Todd]

legalize it in all states. Problem solved.

[jmdrake]

I don't think the assertion is that the cops are violating federal law, but rather the states are.

Are the states preventing the DEA from carrying out drug busts in Colorado? If not, they aren't violating federal law. This case should get tossed. It's well established precedent that the federal government cannot commandeer the legislative process of a state. Marijuana is still illegal in Colorado in the sense that federal prosecutors and federal agents can still enforce federal law. There's just not enough resource for them to really do that. In the past federal agents have raided medical marijuana clubs in California when the owners became too flamboyant.

[Scrooge McDuck]

This is why we need a President Paul with Attorney General Andrew Napolitano.

[jmdrake]

We'll soon find out how resolute these states are about defying their federal masters. One of these courts will ultimately rule against Colorado because of the supremacy clause. I'm guessing they will fold like bitches. Better enjoy your legal weed while you can.

Actually the supremacy clause does not apply. Colorado's law does not nullify federal law. Obama could order DEA raids tomorrow on every pot business in Colorado. Colorado no longer prosecutes people for marijuana in state court. There is long precedent that federal government cannot commandeer the state legislature and force states to pass laws that it wants. It can entice states to pass certain laws and it does so through grant money. All of these lawsuits should get tossed.

But......

If they don't that's really a win for us. Rand should come out strong for passing federal legislation overturning the ruling. He'll be guaranteed to win Colorado in the primary and the general if he does that. Such a move would help him in states where medical marijuana is legal as well.

[Anti Federalist]

LOL @ "We just enforce the law. If you don't like the law, change it."

[rg17]

Why are these asshole cops being so scared of a natural plant that cures cancer and other diseases!

[pcosmar]

There are ten Sheriffs that just identified themselves as needing to be replaced.. immediately.

they have no concept of what their job is..

[Sola_Fide]

We'll soon find out how resolute these states are about defying their federal masters. One of these courts will ultimately rule against Colorado because of the supremacy clause. I'm guessing they will fold like bitches. Better enjoy your legal weed while you can.

I agree. The states won't stand up. Yay federalism

[Sola_Fide]

LOL @ "We just enforce the law. If you don't like the law, change it."

Exactly...

[nobody's_hero]

I don't think the assertion is that the cops are violating federal law, but rather the states are.

It's this sentence that doesn't make sense to me:

"Even in Colorado, the sheriffs say, legal weed forces police officers to violate federal drug law."

What is it that the officers are doing which violates the federal drug laws? Are they stealing it? Are they carrying it across the state border? It's a bullshit claim, is what I'm saying.

[Warlord]

Fuck the LEO's!

[surf]

There are ten Sheriffs that just identified themselves as needing to be replaced.. immediately.

they have no concept of what their job is..specifically:
The Colorado plaintiffs are Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith, Yuma County Sheriff Chad Day, Elbert County Sheriff Shayne Herp, Hinsdale County Sheriff Ronald Bruce, Kiowa County Sheriff Casey Sheridan and Delta County sheriff Frederick McKee.

The Nebraska plaintiffs are Deuel County Sheriff Adam Hayward, Deuel County Attorney Paul Shaub, Cheyenne County Sheriff John Jenson and Scotts Bluff County Sheriff Mark Overman.

The Kansas plaintiffs are Sherman County Sheriff Burton Pianalto and Charles Moser, attorney for Sherman, Wallace and Greeley counties.

[Mach]

Does anyone know where these Sheriffs get their lawsuit, business, travel etc.. etc... funding for all of this?

[Dr.3D]

Fuck the LEO's!
With all those STD's going around, I'll pass on that.

[Stratovarious]

Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska ;

Decriminalize it, there never should have been laws stopping people from smoking the whacky weed.

I think pot is lame , but I could care less how others choose to entertain themselves.

..

[Stratovarious]

Does anyone know where these Sheriffs get their lawsuit, business, travel etc.. etc... funding for all of this?

No knock Police Home Invasions
Asset Forfeiture ?

And probably some federal money, that's helping turn them into the Navy Seals...and the SS.

[rg17]

Does anyone know where these Sheriffs get their lawsuit, business, travel etc.. etc... funding for all of this?

Maybe our taxes? :confused:

[Mach]

No knock Police Home Invasions
Asset Forfeiture ?

And probably some federal money, that's helping turn them into the Navy Seals...and the SS.

No way?

They can't use State funds, taxes, I thought maybe their Sheriffs Association, but it better not be any kind of public money.... or I'll sue out of a "crisis of conscience."

---

You know the real joke with these dummies.... all of the press this gets just helps marijuana legalization everywhere, even more. :D

Very interesting to go into local news sites etc. and see what the people that actually live in those legalized states are saying.

retired Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Stephen Downing said:


"It's money, In many states, the city government expects police to make seizures, and they expect these seizures to supplement their budgets."
"The only difference now compared to the times of alcohol prohibition is that, in the times of alcohol prohibition, law enforcement—the police and judges—got their money in brown paper bags. Today, they get their money through legitimate, systematic programs run by the federal government. That's why they’re using their lobbying organizations to fight every reform."

---

THE LAWSUIT

http://www.scribd.com/doc/257774296/Marijuana-Lawsuit

[Mach]

Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith Facebook post.... Federal/State Law "crisis of conscience"


Let me get this correct: Obamacare is so popular with the American people that they rushed to sign up this week, at the last hour of the last day, many with massive subsidies paid for by you and me- and only under the threat of fines by the federal government?

I’m not sure that qualifies as success. Maybe a good April Fools Joke.

He's all for Federal Marijuana laws, so much so, he has to take it to court, but not Federal Healthcare Laws?

http://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/local/2014/07/06/justin-smith-colorados-social-sheriff/12263531/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin=

Comment from that link....


My most vivid recollection of this was a snazzy performance art piece he pulled off in FC Council Chambers in which a gas mask and hazmat suit were produced to emphasize how incredibly dangerous it is to grow a plant ... marijuana. How ironic, I thought, usually gas masks are the stage props of performance artists from the other end of the political spectrum.

This Sheriff is a joke.

[Mach]

Interesting, I..... did not know that........

Comment section

http://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2015/03/05/larimer-sheriff-sue-marijuana/24429887/

Florida Right to Grow

Let it be known that the National Sheriffs Association is carrying out a plan of obstruction across state lines in defiance of the Spending Bill passed by Congress and Signed by the President. The Winter convention held in Washington DC, January 28 2015 was a national conspiracy meeting to attack MJ laws and obstruct medical marijuana laws in all states. Sheriffs do receive federal funds. The spending bill clearly bars any DOJ funds from being used against marijuana reform. The Sheriffs have formed a syndicate across state line in violation of the RICO. Whether they are doing this in partnership with the cartels or for some other nefarious purpose is unclear. What is clear is that they are violating the law and attacking the will of the people for self interests. They should stand down and cease and desist orders need to be brought to the entire network until an investigation can uncover the motives and prosecute those who have broken the law. We cannot have a Gestapo police force running around America harassing citizens for Prohibition offenses, even trying to change constitutional amendments in smarter states.

[Anti Federalist]

Does anyone know where these Sheriffs get their lawsuit, business, travel etc.. etc... funding for all of this?

Taxes.

Asset forfeiture.

[Stratovarious]

No knock Police Home Invasions ?

Asset Forfeiture ?

And probably some federal money, that's helping turn them into the Navy Seals...and the SS.


No way?

They can't use State funds, taxes, I thought maybe their Sheriffs Association, but it better not be any kind of public money.... or I'll sue out of a "crisis of conscience."

---

You know the real joke with these dummies.... all of the press this gets just helps marijuana legalization everywhere, even more. :D

Very interesting to go into local news sites etc. and see what the people that actually live in those legalized states are saying.

retired Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Stephen Downing said:


---

THE LAWSUIT

http://www.scribd.com/doc/257774296/Marijuana-Lawsuit

...And for me this isn't even so much about Marijuana itself, the bigger issue is Government making decisions
that the 'people' should be making and again the whole POLICE HOME INVASIONS mentality is absolutely SICK ##i# .

Asset Forfeiture, coupled with the Presumption of guilt before innocence ? grrr...

We need to shut down all the Para Military SS Police Departments and re open them as Real Police Departments.



...

[Acala]

Why are these asshole cops being so scared of a natural plant that cures cancer and other diseases!

Don't imagine for a second that these cops are actually concerned about the well-being of the people or the good of the country. This is purely self-interest. The drug war is very profitable to cops through Federal grants and asset forfeiture. If the drug war were ended today, there would be massive layoffs among cops. They spend more time and resources on drug enforcement than any other "crime".

[tod evans]

Don't imagine for a second that these cops are actually concerned about the well-being of the people or the good of the country. This is purely self-interest. The drug war is very profitable to cops through Federal grants and asset forfeiture. If the drug war were ended today, there would be massive layoffs among cops. They spend more time and resources on drug enforcement than any other "crime".

It's not just kops, the entire "Just-Us" system thrives on the war on drugs from the suits in the courthouse to the hacks in the crossbar hotel and all the cottage industries that support them.....

The true state of the American economy would be even more dismal if all these fine folk were out of "work"........

[LibForestPaul]

It's this sentence that doesn't make sense to me:

"Even in Colorado, the sheriffs say, legal weed forces police officers to violate federal drug law."

What is it that the officers are doing which violates the federal drug laws? Are they stealing it? Are they carrying it across the state border? It's a bullshit claim, is what I'm saying.

Not necessarily. From my basic understanding, certain states require LEOs to be certified. This certification is national? Do they loose funding or certification due to the states non-enforcement?

[Anti Federalist]

It's not just kops, the entire "Just-Us" system thrives on the war on drugs from the suits in the courthouse to the hacks in the crossbar hotel and all the cottage industries that support them.....

The true state of the American economy would be even more dismal if all these fine folk were out of "work"........

Not to mention all the "spooks" at the federal level that have been running drugs to support covert ops, going all the way back to Batista and Cuba in the 1950s

[Acala]

There is precedent for the Federal government to deny funding to the States if they fail to pass certain laws. For example, the Feds threatened to withhold highway funds from states that did not enact prohibitions on open alcohol containers in vehicles. However, the states cannot be FORCED to do it or sued if they don't. As for law enforcement certification, that is a matter of state law. State law might require LEOs to be Federally certified, but I don't see how the Feds can mandate it.

However, the Feds did threaten to deny federal permission to write certain prescriptions to doctors who wrote medical MJ prescriptions. I suppose they might analogously deny Automatic rifle permits to LEO in states that don't play drug warrior.

[Mach]

One Colorado sheriff (San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters) responds to peers' anti-pot lawsuit: 'I don't get it'



http://www.denverpost.com/News/ci_27652925/One-Colorado-sheriff-responds-to-peers-antipot-lawsuit:-I-dont-get-it?source=infinite


As news broke this morning on the fourth federal lawsuit filed against Colorado marijuana — this one brought on by six in-state sheriffs and some of their peers in Nebraska and Kansas — we listened to these officials talk about their concerns.

As plaintiff Chad Day, sheriff of Yuma County, said: "As a Colorado sheriff, I am put in an untenable position because virtually every time I support Colorado's marijuana law, I violate federal law, and virtually every time I attempt to support federal law, I violate Amendment 64. My deputies and I, and all of our law-enforcement officers, need to know where the law stands, what we are to enforce and whether marijuana is legal or illegal. Right now, it is chaotic and contradictory – and all parties are at risk as a result."

It made us wonder: Do all Colorado sheriffs feel this way, torn between two masters? Garfield County Sheriff Lou Valario isn't a plaintiff in the case but voiced his support for his litigious colleagues in a statement: "I am fully supportive of this lawsuit."
Suing Colorado over pot

Follow The Cannabist on and

So are all of Colorado's sheriffs on board?

That's when San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters came to mind. Masters, based out of southwestern Colorado mountain hamlet Telluride, has spoken favorably about the impact of legalization, but he hardly gives legal weed a pass. He calls the state's constitutional amendments "terrible" and has serious concerns about the way medical and recreational regulations have been written — specifically on the medical side regarding caregivers.

So what does Masters think about his peers' freshly filed lawsuit against the state of Colorado?

"I don't get it," Masters told The Cannabist via telephone from Telluride. "Unless I'm missing something, and I'm not a constitutional scholar, but I don't see anywhere in the U.S. Constitution where it requires a local, elected law enforcement official to enforce Federal law. We don't enforce immigration law. We don't enforce Forest Service or EPA regulations. I don't see why this is such a conflict for these sheriffs.

"The constitution of the state of Colorado is different. It does direct law enforcement officers to act a certain way under those constitutional amendments. But I'm a Jeffersonian Libertarian Democrat. (Jefferson) said, 'I'm a citizen of the sovereign state of Virginia.' I go along with that attitude. I'm the sheriff of San Miguel County, and I'm here to uphold the laws of the state of Colorado, not the Federal government."

We talked with Masters at length about the new lawsuit, the state of Telluride's streets and jails since legal recreational pot sales started and more — and the sheriff provided answers that were as direct as they were unflinching.

The Cannabist: Were you surprised when you first heard about the new lawsuit filed by your peers?

Bill Masters: It didn't surprise me at all. I think a lot of sheriffs still believe for some strange reason that law enforcement can control marijuana, and it's pretty obvious after being an officer for 40 years and after more than 50 years of a miserably failed drug war that it doesn't work. Colorado and a couple other states are trying an experiment, and the other states should let that experiment run its course. If we let our experiment continue, it'll show whether or not this is a reasonable course of action to those other states.

Cannabist: The suit's plaintiffs are saying this is all about the constitution. Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith said, "Our action today seeks to resolve a critical legal question — whether Colorado's Amendment 64 complies with the United States Constitution and therefore with the Colorado Constitution." Does that resonate with you?

Masters: It's not about the constitution. It's about marijuana. To say it's about anything else isn't being completely candid with everyone. It's about marijuana. If this was about firearms and Colorado had more liberalized firearm laws than the ATF had to enforce, then these sheriffs wouldn't be in such a state of conflict.

Cannabist: What else is it about?

Masters: These sheriffs think adults don't have the right to determine what should go into their bodies. They think they as sheriffs have that right. I disagree with that. It'll be an interesting lawsuit, to be sure, but in my mind the train's already left the station and there's nothing we can do about that.

Cannabist: How have legal recreational marijuana sales changed Telluride — and your job there?

Masters: I don't see any difference (between pre-legalization Telluride and post-legalization Telluride). There's probably a little bit more infused products running around, but I don't see any difference in our crime statistics. There might have been a couple more DUIDs than we've had in the past, but that's not because there are more people driving under the influence. People are just loopier. They think marijuana is legal and they're not hiding it like they used to. The officer comes up to the car and sees a baggie of weed and wonders, 'Is this a DUID?' People used to be more careful, and they didn't want the police to see the marijuana.

Cannabist: How else has it changed the day-to-day jobs of you and your colleagues there?

Masters: This year we are going to have the lowest inmate population per day that we've had since our jail opened. Our jail population has dramatically decreased in the last year. I'm not saying that legal marijuana has people obeying the law — it's more likely the change in immigration policies that allow people who are in the country illegally to bond on criminal charges. But we also have not seen a spike in crime or other kinds of issues due to marijuana intoxication or use or dealing. It certainly has not caused a crime wave of anyway.

Cannabist: So your jails have actually been less busy since pot sales started?

Masters: Yeah, and we get all the detox patients in our jail, because we don't have a detox center here. We don't have marijuana detox patients. We have alcohol patients. In fact, we've never had a marijuana detox patient. We've never had to hold someone because the person was so messed up on marijuana that they had to go to the clinic and get some kind of sedative. Alcohol is still the big problem. It's our No. 1 problem in jail and anywhere else, and that sadly hasn't changed.

[Slave Mentality]

LOL @ "We just enforce the law. If you don't like the law, change it."

Makes me want to punch faces when I hear that anymore.

[devil21]

Why do those sheriff's hate lower crime rates, increased business, tax revenue, and agriculture?

7 Stunning Figures That Sum Up Colorado's MJ Market

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/03/08/7-stunning-figures-that-sum-up-colorados-marijuana.aspx

$76m in tax and licensing revenue and lower crime rates, among other benefits. It's gonna be hard for politicians to keep up the anti-mj rhetoric with such large windfalls of cash for the states sitting there. Even with legalization, CO mj sales are concentrated in relatively small parts of the state and CO isn't very populated in the first place. A state like FL could pull a half billion in taxes and licensing fees alone.

[Mach]

Yeah, still almost another 2 years until 2016 elections... the smart politicians will definitely be pro-Marijuana. $$$$$ http://www.sherv.net/cm/emo/smoke/passing-joint-smiley-emoticon.gif (http://www.sherv.net/) $$$$$

[Mani]

Why are these asshole cops being so scared of a natural plant that cures cancer and other diseases!


They aren't scared of a plant. They are scared of losing their right to search people, detain them, anal probe them, and all sorts of abuses due to fighting, "The war on drugs".

They are scared of losing huge $$$$ they receive from the federal gov't for their successful fight against "the war on drugs" the more drug busts, the more federal money flows into their department. And a good chunk of those "drug busts" are simply from that plant. You are robbing them of their money making ways so you can bet for damn sure they are going to sue and sue and sue some more.


Oh wait...they don't make the laws...They only enforce them...

They are only doing their job...:rolleyes:

[fr33]

"I'm just doing my job. I actually support legalization."

I've heard and read that so many times from douchebags with badges. Meanwhile their union fights tooth and nail to stop legalization. And here we have them suing even after it's legalized. The police are nothing but pirates. They want to steal from you. That is their job.

[Stratovarious]

They aren't scared of a plant. They are scared of losing their right to search people, detain them, anal probe them, and all sorts of abuses due to fighting, "The war on drugs".

They are scared of losing huge $$$$ they receive from the federal gov't for their successful fight against "the war on drugs" the more drug busts, the more federal money flows into their department. And a good chunk of those "drug busts" are simply from that plant. You are robbing them of their money making ways so you can bet for damn sure they are going to sue and sue and sue some more.


Oh wait...they don't make the laws...They only enforce them...

They are only doing their job...:rolleyes:

+ 1 x 10kazzililn

..