SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Prison inmates can’t legally possess marijuana under California’s law allowing recreational pot, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday in overturning a lower court that found prisoners could have the drug as long as they didn’t consume it.
The justices said the 2019 appellate court ruling allowing prisoners to have up to 1 ounce (28.5 grams) of marijuana went against common sense. The high court sided with the state attorney general in finding the state’s marijuana law approved by voters did not apply to Californians in prison.
“It seems implausible” that the voters intended to essentially decriminalize marijuana in prisons, Associate Justice Joshua Groban wrote for the majority.
“We agree with the Attorney General that if the drafters had intended to so dramatically change the laws regarding cannabis in prison, we would expect them to have been more explicit about their goals,” he wrote.
California in 1996 became the first state to legalize medical marijuana, which also is illegal in its prisons. Twenty years later, voters approved Proposition 64 establishing the world’s largest legal recreational pot marketplace. People 21 or older can legally possess up to an ounce of marijuana. [Read More @ The Washington Post]
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