District Judge Rules Against Marijuana Legality in Massachusetts
He says marijuana companies have grounds to sue if taken to the Supreme Court.
District Judge Mark Mastroianni rejected the arguments made by Massachusetts marijuana companies, declaring that a previous Supreme Court decision prevented them from forcing state marijuana legalization through the court system. The companies attempted to get around this Supreme Court ruling by showing how the scientific understanding of marijuana use has drastically changed in two decades, but the court ruled that scientific findings do not supersede legal decisions.
However, Judge Mastroianni did not reject the companies’ right to sue, implying in his court order that their argument may be relevant if they could get the Supreme Court to overturn its own 2005 decision in Gonzales v. Raich.
He wrote in the order, “Only the Supreme Court can overrule its own decisions and lower courts must apply a precedent with direct application, even if there is a basis for believing the precedent has been undermined by later developments.”
