DENVER — Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is trying a new tactic in his fight to have Colorado's legalization of recreational use of marijuana overturned.
Pruitt and his Nebraska counterpart are asking an appeals court to allow them to join a court case that may decide whether federal law against marijuana pre-empts Colorado's legalization.
The two attorneys general on Thursday jointly asked the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to allow them to intervene in the case. Opponents of legalized marijuana are pursuing that case at the Denver-based appeals court.
The appeal seeks to overturn a lower court decision. It concluded the opponents had no right to sue on their claim that federal law preempts Colorado's legalization.
The Oklahoma and Nebraska attorneys general contend that marijuana coming from Colorado has burdened law enforcement authorities in their two states, where marijuana is illegal.
Protecting citizens
"Because the people of Nebraska and Oklahoma have determined the marijuana is harmful and should be illegal, Nebraska and Oklahoma have a duty to protect their citizens from the continuing harms resulting from Colorado's illegal activities," the attorneys general wrote in Thursday's request to the appeals court.
The two states' request to join the appeal is a new tactic after the U.S. Supreme Court on March 21 refused to allow them to sue Colorado.
Thursday's filing states that some defendants in the pending appeal opposes the request of Oklahoma and Nebraska to intervene in it. Those defendants are officials of Pueblo County, Colo., who have licensed marijuana businesses in that county.
The appellate judges are not expected to decide before late this month whether to allow the two attorneys general to join the case and submit arguments against Colorado's position. The appellate judges are not expected to decide until at least later this year a basic issue of the appeal: whether federal law pre-empts Colorado's legalization.
One opponent who sued in the case that is on appeal is Safe Streets Alliance, a national organization based in Washington, D.C., that supports enforcement of federal drug laws. Another opponent who sued owns land adjacent to a pot grow site in Pueblo County.
Comparison failed
In their unsuccessful effort at the Supreme Court, Oklahoma and Nebraska likened Colorado to a drug cartel that is causing drug-related problems in their states and others.
Colorado voters in 2012 approved a state constitutional amendment that allows, with restrictions, recreational use of marijuana. The state has a regulated process for cultivation and distribution.
The state and local governments raise revenue from marijuana users and businesses.
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