federalism

By. Patri Friedman, Reason.com

 

Since medical marijuana was legalized in California in 1996, use has been widespread. And once the Obama administration reduced the harassment, the number of dispensaries has grown rapidly. Not that pot was ever that hard to get out West, but it is now fair to say that the "medical" qualification is close to irrelevant.

 

So marijuana is now de facto legal in California, requiring only a couple hundred bucks and a short doctor's visit to become a qualified purchaser. Perhaps as a result, a ballot initiative to fully legalize marijuana is polling at about even odds in the Golden State, and marijuana initiatives are in the pipeline elsewhere. Read more »

By. Jessica Corry, Huffington Post

It takes a lot to get some of the state's most conservative lawmakers on board with a Democratic Congressman from the People's Republic of Boulder. But that's just what happened this week.

The unifying cause? None other than Colorado's hot button headline-grabbing medical marijuana debate. In coming together, however, rabble-rousers did so to draw awareness to a much more important cause: telling the federal government to butt out of our legislative process and local communities. On Monday, national media, including the New York Times, started taking note.

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By Jacob Sullum, Reason Foundation

Drug Policy Alliance attorney Tamar Todd refutes a Los Angeles Times editorial's claim that California "does not have the authority" to legalize marijuana, as a bill approved this week by the state Assembly's Public Safety Committee would do:

The Times is simply wrong to suggest that California does not have the authority to tax and regulate marijuana. There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that requires states to criminalize anything. We could scrap our entire penal code tomorrow if we wanted to. States get to decide state law, not Washington. This is why California and 13 other states have been able to legalize and regulate medical marijuana despite continuing federal prohibition.

Certainly, even if AB 390 becomes law, the federal government could still enforce its marijuana laws against California residents. The reality is, however, the federal government does not have the resources to undertake sole—or even primary—enforcement responsibility for state drug crimes. More than 95% of all marijuana arrests in this country are made by state and local law enforcement agencies.

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