Arguing that two neighboring states are dangerously attempting “to selectively manipulate Colorado’s marijuana laws,” state Attorney General Cynthia Coffman on Friday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a landmark lawsuit filed by Nebraska and Oklahoma over marijuana legalization.
The lawsuit seeks to strike down Colorado’s licensing of recreational marijuana stores. Nebraska and Oklahoma officials argue that the stores have caused a flood of marijuana into their states, stretching their law enforcement agencies thin and threatening their sovereignty.
But in the response filed Friday, Coffman argued that closing only recreational marijuana stores would destroy an innovative approach that Colorado has taken in trying to kill the black market for marijuana.
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“Plaintiff States seek to strike down the laws and regulations that are designed to channel demand away from this black market and into a licensed and closely monitored retail system,” the brief filed Friday argues.
As Coffman prepared to file her response Friday, her counterpart in Washington state — where recreational marijuana stores are also legal — expressed support.
In a friend-of-the-court brief filed Friday in support of Colorado’s laws, Washington Attorney General Robert Ferguson argues that Colorado’s law doesn’t hurt Nebraska and Oklahoma’s abilities to enforce their own laws.
“Nebraska and Oklahoma retain the constitutional powers of every other sovereign State in the nation,” Ferguson . “They can investigate and prosecute persons who violate their laws; neither is powerless to address marijuana within their borders.”
The interstate lawsuit is the most high-profile of four cases that have been filed against marijuana legalization in Colorado. Because it involves a dispute between states, Nebraska and Oklahoma’s challenge was filed directly to the Supreme Court.
The three other lawsuits — two by Colorado residents upset about marijuana businesses moving nearby and one by several Colorado sheriffs who believe marijuana legalization forces them to violate their oath of office — are currently pending in federal district court in Denver.
Friday’s response is the first time Colorado officials have had to make a full-throated argument in favor of the state’s marijuana legalization laws.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068, jingold@denverpost.com or twitter.com/johningold
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, denverpost.com/coldcases or twitter.com/kirkmitchell
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