California high court: Inmates can’t have cannabis in prison

By DON THOMPSON
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The California’s high court has ruled that prison inmates cannot legally possess marijuana behind bars under the state’s 2016 law allowing recreational pot. The state Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a 2019 appeals court decision that found the Proposition 64 ballot measure applied to all Californians, even those in prison. The lower court ruling would have created the distinction that inmates could legally have small amounts of pot, so long as they didn’t consume it. The appellate judges said that distinction might be unwise, but was not absurd. The Supreme Court’s majority said that reasoning went against common sense.