 |
| Photo credit: Chuck Grimmett (Creative Commons) |
The Obama administration is about to school fellow Leftists on the importance of the 10th Amendment with its crackdown on medical marijuana.
According to the Los Angeles Times, starting in California, the first of several states making marijuana available as a “prescription drug”, the administration is pulling the plug on dispensaries suspected of illegally trafficking the weed for recreational use.
California will take yet another gut punch in its economy if Obama succeeds in pulling the weed. More than just a profitable industry, medical marijuana is also a revenue source, if taxed. Now the constitutional question of states’ rights — the strength of the 10th Amendment itself is becoming relevant to the very people who oppose it most — pro-government liberals.This issue may bring people of different political stripes together in opposition to what is clearly an over-reach of government authority. Liberals and libertarians who favor decriminalization of hooch in any case may find allies in conservatives and TEA Party people who, while opposing legalization of drugs on one hand, respect a state’s right to make the determination on their own.
I’m not a big fan of what the Left has done to the Left Coast with their wacky laws and nanny governments. However, I’d be inconsistent in my views if I did not speak out for their right to determine whether marijuana can be used within their borders for medical purposes. — or for any other purposes. The federal government can manage the illegal drug trade through methods that do not interfere with a state’s own laws. One thing has become clear: we do not need the same bunch who sells guns to drug cartels in Mexico meddling in the affairs of states that have chosen to relax their marijuana laws.
