The owners of Standing Akimbo believed the IRS was surreptitiously searching for evidence for federal prosecutors to use against them for drug trafficking crimes. The IRS instead requested product tracking details from Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division and the Marijuana Enforcement Tracking Reporting and Compliance system.
The Standing Akimbo Dispensary
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit determined that the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, did not shield the privacy of Standing Akimbo’s business data.
“Taxpayers chose to operate a marijuana business under Colorado law and, thus, agreed to provide certain information to the Enforcement Division,” wrote Judge Gregory A. Phillips in an opinion from April of this year. The plaintiffs “have no ownership, possession, or propriety [sic] interest in them.”
In the petition for Supreme Court review, Thorburn disagreed, arguing the IRS needed to obtain a search warrant and show probable cause. He contended that the “sole question” was whether the Controlled Substances Act, which still outlaws marijuana at the federal level, preempts Colorado’s regime of legalized cannabis.
“Absent the explicit direction by Congress prohibiting that which is expressly legal under Colorado law, Congress did not override Colorado [state] cannabis distribution laws in favor of the CSA,” reads the petition to the Supreme Court. While acknowledging Congress has the power to restrict marijuana sales, Thorburn did not believe Congress explicitly intended to prevail over state law.
Following Colorado voters’ legalization of retail marijuana in 2012, Robert A. Mikos, a professor of law at Vanderbilt University, published an essay suggesting state laws that regulate marijuana are consistent with Congress’ intent in passing the Controlled Substances Act because they similarly restrict the use, distribution and possession of the drug.
However, “[n]either the United States Supreme Court, nor any federal appellate court, nor the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has yet opined on Congress’s intent to preempt state marijuana reforms,” Mikos observed.
Read more at
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/denver-dispensary-asks-u-s-supreme-court-to-rule-on-legality-of-marijuana/article_229b072e-22a8-11eb-bd2d-c72851da4013.html