The Supreme Court of the US Won’t Consider Marijuana Legalization Case

A three-year attempt to legalize marijuana at the federal level through a lawsuit appears to have come to an end, and the US Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

According to Law360.com, a case filed in 2017 by former NFL player Marvin Washington and several other medical marijuana patients will continue to be dismissed by the Second Circuit as the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

The plaintiffs tried to argue that the classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 controlled substance is unconstitutional and should be reversed.

The case was first dismissed by a district court in 2018, and in 2019 it got a new lease on life from the Second Circuit.

The Second District initially gave plaintiffs the option to directly ask the US Drug Enforcement Administration to voluntarily move marijuana from Schedule 1 to a less restrictive category such as Schedule 2. But when the plaintiffs rejected that option, the Second District dismissed the claim. after which the plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court. This attempt is complete and the case is closed. “For each case against Brown against the Board of Education, there are dozens of earlier, lesser-known legal battles that set the stage for possible changes to the law to correct past mistakes and present problems,” says Michael Hillier, an attorney for plaintiffs, Law360.com reported. “Unfortunately, the decision (of the Supreme Court) falls into the second category, not the first.” A separate lawsuit, also challenging the federal classification of marijuana, was filed earlier this year by researcher Dr. Sue Sisley and is still ongoing.