Marijuana Activists Ask Supreme Court To Hear Their Case Against DEA

Medical marijuana patients and advocates are taking their lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a petition filed last month and formally docketed with the high court on Thursday, the plaintiffs asked the justices to take up their case challenging the constitutionality of federal cannabis prohibition. This comes after a series of rulings in lower courts since the original lawsuit was filed in 2017. Lawyers representing the coalition of medical cannabis patients and activists—including Alexis Bortell and former NFL player Marvin Washington—said in April that the past rulings in the case made it clear their only source of acceptable relief would come from the Supreme Court. That’s because both a U.S. District Court and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit previously determined that they would have to first seek administrative relief through existing channels such as a petition asking DEA directly to reclassify cannabis. But the plaintiffs said they wouldn’t go that route because they believe the request would be denied by DEA and because the agency would, at best, reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug, which they say could create additional harms in terms of patient access to the plant. Therefore, they’re taking their appeal to the nation’s highest court. It’s the “final hurdle the plaintiffs must clear to obtain the relief they seek,” the law firm Hiller PC said in a press release on Friday. The case argues that the current classification of cannabis as a…

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Source : MJ moment
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