State 'High' Court Overturns Limit On Personal Medical Marijuana

The California Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a law limiting medical marijuana patients to having eight ounces of pot at one time. The court stated that the law was drawn up by the legislature, and only the people have the right to amend voter-approved propositions such as the one in question, Prop. 215.

The ruling leaves the amount of pot a patient can possess up the air. Pro-medical marijuana group Americans for Safe Access seemed skeptical about what might happen now if patients are stopped by police: "The California Supreme Court did the right thing by abolishing limits on medical marijuana possession and cultivation," stated Joe Elford, the group's counsel. "At the same time, the Court may have left too much discretion to law enforcement in deciding what are reasonable amounts of medicine for patients to possess and cultivate."

In its unanimous decision, the court stated that "the Legislature is powerless to act on its own to amend an initiative statute. Any change in this authority must come in the form of a constitutional revision ... We are compelled to conclude that section 11362.77 [the eight-ounce-limit law) impermissibly amends the CUA and ... is unconstitutional as applied in this case."