Yesterday the San Diego Board of Supervisors voted to sue the California government over the legality of the state's medical marijuana law. Proposition 215 was passed by voters nearly a decade ago to establish the right of qualified patients to use marijuana as medicine.

This attack on the will of voters comes on the heels of a decision by the supervisors last month to sue over the state medical marijuana ID program.

San Diego's refusal to implement the ID program, which is intended to help protect patients from arrest and seizure of their medicine by local or state-level officials, was clearly motivated by the supervisors' dislike for Prop 215. They have now explicitly spelled out that dislike with their vote to challenge the law directly.

The supervisors hope to overturn Prop 215 on the grounds that federal law, which makes marijuana illegal, should supersede state law. The law suit stems in part from confusion over the U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year that upheld the right of the federal government to arrest patients, even in states where medical marijuana is legal. A series of medical marijuana states halted their ID card programs at the time, and a series of attorneys general issued opinions clarifying their legality.

The issue of whether this decision affects California was already settled this summer by the state Attorney General's office, which issued an opinion saying the state's ID card program was not in conflict with federal law. At the time, Jonathan K. Renner, deputy attorney general, explained, “The federal government’s decision to criminalize marijuana – for all purposes – does not require California to do the same.”

In their attempt to re-open the issue by challenging Prop 215, the San Diego supervisors are wasting taxpayer money, hurting medical marijuana patients and defying the state constitution. Alliance legal affairs director Daniel Abrahamson said, "The state courts and the state Attorney General have already rejected the Board's position, and the legality of Prop 215 has been settled for years.  This challenge by the supervisors is pure folly, coming at the expense of sick and dying people."