States vs. Feds on Pot

Now that voters in Colorado and Washington have legalized possession of small amounts of pot by adults, the other 48 states are scrambling to get in on this bonanza before all their residents pick up stakes and head for Denver and Seattle.

No, of course not. Now Colorado and Washington officials are scrambling to figure out how they can possibly get legal pot to their very impatient citizens without bringing the full wrath of the federal government down on their heads permanently.

Or maybe not. Maybe the feds will take one look and decide it's too much trouble to try to arrest however many million people will soon be living in Colorado and Washington, so we'll just pretend nothing's going on there and keep arresting all the pathetic half-ounce-of-weed users in states happy to lock 'em for life.

That would actually be the worst decision for every citizen in every state, not just the pot users. 
 

I'm all in favor of legalizing marijuana and all drugs. Tax the fuck out of 'em and use the money to fund 10 million treatment beds.

 

Here's the problem: Once you allow states to nullify stupid, wasteful federal laws (and gay marriage does not nullify federal law; all DOMA does is deny federal benefits to same-sex couples), you allow states to nullify smart, essential federal laws.

 

Like anti-pollution laws that ensure clean air and water.  Like food-safety laws that ensure food won't kill us.  Like anti-discrimination laws that ensure minorities can patronize restaurants and hotels.

 

You think Texas wouldn't leap to nullify every single business regulation on the books? Kentucky wouldn't nullify every coal-mining safety law?  Florida wouldn't pave the Everglades?

 

You want to change federal law on marijuana, fine: change federal law on marijuana. But don't just neglect to enforce federal marijuana laws in states that have decriminalized it. Do that, and before you know it, the motherfuckers will be mining coal in my basement.

 

Steve Benen at Maddowblog:

It's been over a month since voters in Colorado and the state of Washington approved ballot measures to legalize recreational use and sale of marijuana, despite federal law that reaches a very different conclusion. Yesterday, President Obama addressed the discrepancy for the first time.

President Obama says recreational users of marijuana in states that have legalized the substance should not be a "top priority" of federal law enforcement officials prosecuting the war on drugs.
"We've got bigger fish to fry," Obama said of pot users in Colorado and Washington during an exclusive interview with ABC News' Barbara Walters.

"It would not make sense for us to see a top priority as going after recreational users in states that have determined that it's legal," he said, invoking the same approach taken toward users of medicinal marijuana in 18 states where it's legal.

The president added that this is a tough problem, because Congress has not yet changed the law." He told ABC, "I head up the executive branch; we're supposed to be carrying out laws. And so what we're going to need to have is a conversation about, how do you reconcile a federal law that still says marijuana is a federal offense and state laws that say that it's legal?"

SNIP
Congressional intervention is needed and practically inevitable. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said yesterday the Senate Judiciary Committee is planning a hearing early next year to examine the legal ambiguities and consider legislative options.