WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — County attorneys and sheriffs in the US states of Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska filed a lawsuit against Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper to prove that Colorado’s legalizing marijuana conflicts with US federal laws and the US Constitution, according to court documents.
“In our constitutional system, the federal government has preeminent authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, including commerce involving legal and illegal trafficking in drugs such as marijuana,” the plaintiffs argued on Thursday.
The plaintiffs also argued that US federal drug laws — as enacted by Congress to be administered by the US Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Agency — take precedence over state laws such as Colorado’s Amendment 64 that legalizes marijuana.
“Amendment 64 pursues only one goal — legalization of marijuana — a goal which is diametrically opposed to the many objectives which Congress has established, and repeatedly reestablished, for the United States’ anti-drug policy and practice for marijuana as a controlled substance,” the plaintiffs said.
Colorado voters passed Amendment 64 in a 2012 state referendum, which legalized limited sale and growth of marijuana.
The US states of Oregon, Washington and Alaska have also legalized recreational marijuana in referendums.
The Justice Department has said it will not challenge the state’s marijuana legalization.
Thursday’s lawsuit is the third against Colorado that seeks to overturn the legalization of marijuana.
A poll published on Wednesday by the General Social Survey found that a majority of Americans favour marijuana legalization, with 51.7 percent of respondents supporting legalization and 41.7 percent against.
