Pubdate: Tue, 05 May 2015
Source: Tulsa World (OK)
Copyright: 2015 World Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.tulsaworld.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/463
Author: Chris Casteel, The Oklahoman

COURT SEEKS ADMINISTRATION VIEWS ON POT

Colorado Is Being Challenged on Its Legalization Law.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court asked Monday for the Obama 
administration's views on whether Oklahoma and Nebraska should be 
able to sue Colorado over its marijuana laws.

The court sometimes asks the solicitor general - the president's 
advocate before the U.S. Supreme Court - for input on a case that 
justices potentially will hear.

A spokesman for Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt said the 
president's Justice Department - now being asked for its views - is 
actually part of the problem.

"Attorney General Pruitt anxiously awaits an explanation from the 
Obama administration as to its continued refusal to enforce federal 
law, specifically the Controlled Substances Act," Aaron Cooper said Monday.

"The administration's wholesale disregard for the law led Oklahoma 
and Nebraska to sue Colorado to stop the stream of illegal marijuana 
flowing into our states as a result of Colorado's legalization of the 
commercial production and sale of marijuana."

The Supreme Court has not decided whether to allow the lawsuit to 
move forward. The request for the solicitor general's views is likely 
to delay - perhaps until this fall - the court's decision on 
advancing the case.

Oklahoma and Nebraska asked in December for the court's permission to 
sue Colorado over certain aspects of its marijuana-legalization plan.

The two states claim that laws allowing the manufacture, possession 
and distribution of pot have led to more illegal drugs crossing state lines.

Colorado countered to the Supreme Court in March that Oklahoma and 
Nebraska "filed this case in an attempt to reach across their borders 
and selectively invalidate state laws with which they disagree."

Colorado Attorney General Cynthia H. Coffman, while defending her 
state in court, issued a statement saying leadership from Washington 
on drug policy was "noticeably absent."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom