Colorado is being hit by more lawsuits against its marijuana legalization, this time from a group based out of Washington D.C. and led by a former member of the Reagan Justice Department—Safe Streets Alliance.
In December, Colorado neighbors Oklahoma and Nebraska sued, complaining that the adjacent state’s legalization was “draining their treasuries, and placing stress on their criminal justice systems.”
Safe Street Alliance rolled out two lawsuits on Thursday: one charges Colorado with violating the Constitution by flouting federal law, while the other accuses several “prominent” marijuana businesses of racketeering.
The latter suit is joined by New Vision Hotels Two, LLC, the company that owns Holiday Inn in Frisco, Colorado, claiming New Vision is “suffering injuries to its business and property caused by the operations of Summit Marijuana, a state-licensed recreational marijuana store that plans to open less than 75 yards from the front entrance of New Vision’s hotel.”
“Marijuana businesses make bad neighbors,” the suit reads. “They drive away legitimate businesses’ customers, emit pungent, foul odors, attract undesirable visitors, increase criminal activity, increase traffic, and reduce property values.”
“Despite the contrary laws of some states, the production and sale of marijuana remains a serious crime under federal law,” the group’s website states. “Safe Streets is asking the federal courts to do what the Executive Branch should have asked them to do all along: uphold the rule of law and close down the illegal marijuana industry.”
The role of federal marijuana law in states that have legalized is a source of much debate. Congress recently passed a measure in the Cromnibus spending bill banning the Justice Department from prosecuting state-sanctioned medical marijuana, while pro-marijuana groups have long pressed the government to at least move the drug to a less harsh scheduling.
“It’s hard to imagine why anyone would prefer marijuana be controlled by criminals instead of by tightly regulated businesses,” a spokesman for the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project told Reuters. “If drug cartels relied on litigation instead of violence, this is the lawsuit they would file.”
