Marijuana Conflicts, State and Federal

Liberals are calling for the President to respect states’ rights and not oppose the voters of Washington and Colorado who just chose to legalize marijuana in their states.  Not yet clear where conservatives stand on this, but the White House is starting to look like the odd man out.

A recent Huffington Post story presented the argument in favor of legalization, highlighting the ways that enforcing prohibitions on marijuana are counter-productive:

1.      financially burdens taxpayers;

2.      encroaches upon civil liberties;

3.      engenders disrespect for the law;

4.      impedes legitimate scientific research into the plant's medicinal properties and;

5.      disproportionately affects communities of color;

6.      criminalization has not worked.

Like so many issues in American politics, the average voter is more pragmatic (and less polarizing) than our elites.  According to the Huffington Post article,

“Despite more than 70 years of federal pot prohibition, Americans' consumption of and demand for cannabis is here to stay. Voters' passage of Amendment 64 in Colorado and Initiative 502 in Washington acknowledges this reality. These measures seek to stop ceding control of the marijuana market to untaxed criminal enterprises, and to impose new, common-sense regulations governing cannabis' personal use by adults and licensing its production.

Unlike the federal government, which continues to define cannabis as an illegal commodity that is as dangerous as heroin, most voters recognize that a pragmatic regulatory framework that allows for limited, licensed production and sale of cannabis to adults but restricts use among young people best reduces the risks associated with its use or abuse.”

But so far the president, and his Drug Czar (the former Chief of Police in Seattle, Gil Kerlowske), have yet to speak clearly or with one voice on this, and some signs indicate they plan to continue the ineffective War on Drugs by another name.  Congress is already preparing to act (sadly, that sentence seems to express something out of the ordinary today).