Bay Area man says city’s responsibility should be to the state, not the Feds

City attorney David Hirsch’s pretense about upholding federal marijuana laws ignores the fact that state or local authorities are not authorized to enforce federal statutes that conflict with California law.

As elected officials, the City Council took an oath to uphold California law and the California constitution. There is no need for any confusion because every elected official in Simi is sworn to uphold Proposition 215 (which now enjoys 60 percent approval in Simi) because the California constitution clearly forbids state officials from overruling California laws because of federal statutes.

Article III, Section 3.5 of the California constitution (adopted in 1978) states, “An administrative agency, including an administrative agency created by the constitution or an initiative statute, has no power: . . . (c) to declare a statute unenforceable, or to refuse to enforce a statute, on the basis that federal law or federal regulations prohibit the enforcement of such statute unless an appellate court has made a determination that the enforcement of such a statute is prohibited by federal law or federal regulations.”

If David Hirsch and the Simi City Council cannot distinguish between federal and state jurisdictions, they should resign from office.

The simple fact is that these liars want to continue a “Reefer Madness” campaign based on absurd lies.

Persecuting the sick and dying shows how utterly immoral these drug crusaders are. Redford Givens, webmaster DRCNet Online Library of Drug Policy  San Francisco