Why the effort to regulate medical marijuana is close to hopeless

The courts are not in the business of promulgating laws. That's the job of legislative bodies. Which is why the current round of litigation involving local medical marijuana laws resembles a giant jigsaw puzzle that's shy a few pieces. Next year, the California Supreme Court might try clarifying the widely divergent decisions being made by the lower courts - not to mention the conflicting laws being passed by city councils and county supervisors. But it's the state legislature that's ultimately responsible for correcting the mess they helped create after voters approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes in 1996. Even then, however, the business would be on shaky ground, as I noted this morning on KPCC's Business Update:

Steve Julian: ...we see widespread public support for legalizing medical marijuana, not just in California...

Lacter: ...but all over the nation, which is why the real answer is to distribute the drug the same way we distribute any drug: using real prescriptions, and filling them at your local CVS or Rite-Aid. The reason that hasn't happened is that the federal government still prohibits all kinds of marijuana, and no major retailer is going to run the risk of violating federal drug laws, despite what the laws in California might allow. So, that's the holdup, and no matter what the state courts and city councils and local ballot measures might say, the medical marijuana business will never be legitimatized unless Washington allows it to happen. And there's no sign of that.