Readers React: Marijuana suit doesn’t hold up

Re: “The case against Colorado’s pot law,” Opinion, June 25

To the editor: It is relatively easy to grow cannabis anywhere, including Nebraska and Oklahoma, both of which are suing Colorado. In addition, the criminal databases in both those states show that marijuana cultivation, possession and distribution existed there long before Colorado legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use.

So for them to now suddenly claim that “marijuana is flowing across their borders and burdening their criminal justice systems” is simply not credible. In legal terms it doesn’t pass the “legal standing” test.

What is the legal standing test in this case? If Colorado were to suddenly make both medical and recreational marijuana illegal again, marijuana would still be available in Nebraska and Oklahoma, just as it has always been available there.

Eric Geisterfer, San Pedro

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To the editor: President Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act in 1970. In 2015, marijuana is still considered a Schedule I drug despite the fact that several states have legalized recreational or medicinal use.

In his op-ed article, Zachary Bolitho points out that federal law trumps state law when it comes to the pending court case pitting Nebraska and Oklahoma against Colorado.

There is a simple solution: Petition Congress to remove marijuana from the Schedule I list and allow individual states to legislate their own positions on marijuana. Nebraska and Oklahoma could then benefit from agricultural production of hemp (the best botanical for biofuel production) and Colorado from boosted tax revenue.

Craig Simmons, Northridge