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Title: Most Republicans Oppose Federal Interference With Marijuana Legalization
Source:
Reason
URL Source: https://reason.com/blog/2017/02/24/ ... licans-oppose-federal-interfer
Published: Feb 24, 2017
Author: Jacob Sullum
Post Date: 2017-02-24 09:56:06 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 10620
Comments: 60
Yesterday afternoon, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer suggested that the Justice Department under newly installed Attorney General Jeff Sessions will be more inclined to enforce the federal ban on marijuana in states that have legalized the drug for recreational use. A large majority of Americans, including most Republicans, think that's a bad idea, according to poll numbers released the same day as Spicer's comments. Answering a question from an Arkansas reporter wondering how the DOJ will respond to that state's new medical marijuana law, Spicer said "there's two distinct issues here: medical marijuana and recreational marijuana." He reiterated President Trump's support for laws that allow patients to use marijuana for symptom relief, which 28 states have enacted. Spicer also noted that Congress has repeatedly approved a spending rider that restrains the DOJ from taking action against medical marijuana suppliers in those states. But he said "there is a big difference between that and recreational marijuana," which eight states have legalized, and predicted there will be "greater enforcement" of the federal ban in those states under Sessions, saying "they are going to continue to enforce the laws on the books with respect to recreational marijuana." While Spicer emphasized the difference between medical and recreational marijuana, he overlooked a more important distinction: between opposing state laws that allow recreational use of marijuana and supporting federal intervention aimed at overriding them. That distinction is clear in the latest Quinnipiac University poll, which finds that 71 percent of Americans "oppose the government enforcing federal laws against marijuana in states that have already legalized medical or recreational marijuana." By comparison, 59 percent think marijuana "should be made legal in the United States." That means many Americans who oppose legalization nevertheless think states should be free to adopt that policy. A disproportionate number of those people are members of Trump's party: While only 35 percent of Republicans in the Quinnipiac poll supported marijuana legalization, 55 percent opposed federal interference with it. A CBS News poll conducted last April found even stronger Republican opposition to the sort of meddling Spicer predicted. Asked if "laws regarding whether the use of marijuana is legal" should be "determined by the federal government" or "left to each individual state government to decide," 70 percent of Republicans said the latter, compared to 55 percent of Democrats (who as usual were more likely to favor legalization). These results make sense to the extent that conservatives take seriously their avowed commitment to federalism, which Trump also claims to support. At the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump said he favored medical marijuana but had concerns about broader legalization, a decision he nevertheless said should be left to the states. "If they vote for it, they vote for it," he said. Trump confirmed that position at a 2015 rally in Nevada: "In terms of marijuana and legalization, I think that should be a state issue, state by state." Sessions, a former Alabama senator, also pays lip service to federalism. After the death of William Rehnquist in 2005, Sessions gave a floor speech in which he praised the chief justice for recognizing the limits of federal power: He understood that the Federal Government, through the Commerce Clause, has broad power, but there are limits to the reach of the Commerce Clause. It does not cover every single matter the United States Senate may desire to legislate on, to the extent that the federal government controls even simple, discreet actions within a State. He reestablished a respect for state law and state sovereignty through a number of his federalism opinions. In 2013 Sessions cosponsored the Restoring the 10th Amendment Act, which would have facilitated lawsuits by state officials challenging regulations they believe exceed the powers the Constitution grants to the federal government. As the introduction to that bill explained, "The 10th Amendment assures that the people of the United States, and each sovereign State in the Union of States, have, and have always had, rights that the Federal Government may not usurp." But Sessions's support for federalism does not extend to marijuana policy. During his confirmation hearings, Sessions was hazy on his plans for marijuana enforcement. But he is an old-fashioned drug warrior who complained about the Obama administration's prosecutorial restraint in states that have legalized marijuana, saying "the Department of Justice needs to be clear" that "marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized." When the subject is marijuana, it seems, Sessions does not recognize any "limits to the reach of the Commerce Clause." In that respect Sessions outdoes one of the most famous anti-marijuana crusaders in U.S. history. Harry Anslinger, who ran the Federal Bureau of Narcotics from 1930 to 1962, pushed the states and Congress to ban marijuana by claiming the plant turned people into rapists and murderers. Like Sessions, he was not a stickler for facts or logic. But even Anslinger did not go so far as to claim that the federal government had the authority to impose marijuana prohibition on recalcitrant states. "There are no Federal laws on the growth or use of marijuana, the plant being grown so easily that there is almost no interstate commerce in it," The New York Times reported in 1931. "Mr. Anslinger said the government under the Constitution cannot dictate what may be grown within individual States." The most straightforward way to stop Sessions from cracking down on state-licensed marijuana businesses, assuming Trump does not plan to keep his campaign promise, is for Congress to pass the Respect State Marijuana Laws Act, which Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) reintroduced a few weeks ago. The bill, which so far has 14 cosponsors, half of them Republicans, would add a single sentence to the Controlled Substances Act: "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the provisions of this subchapter related to marihuana shall not apply to any person acting in compliance with State laws relating to the production, possession, distribution, dispensation, administration, or delivery of marihuana." Rohrabacher's bill would not be necessary if federal officials respected the Constitution. But they don't, so it is. Jacob Sullum is a senior editor at Reason magazine and a nationally syndicated columnist. A DOJ crackdown on state-licensed cannabusinesses would be contrary to public opinion, Trump's promises, and the Constitution.
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 40.
#3. To: Deckard, misterwhite (#0)
As I've said before, the tide of public opinion has shifted pretty dramatically to legalization or decriminalization. Rohrabacher is no backbencher. He does have some clout and a fair number of co-sponsors. This bill would keep Sessions, ever the old Drug Warrior, out of states regulating marijuana. And it would keep the GOP from turning off the under-40 voters who support legal pot at about the same rate as they support gay marriage. Trump keeps saying he's going to enact everything he promised. Well, that is a lot of stuff. But that list never included going after the pot industry in states where it was legalized. Trump did talk a lot about legal opiate addiction and heroin and overdoses. He never campaigned similarly about legalized pot.
He said something about states with legal medical marijuana. But nothing about states with legal recreational marijuana. "And it would keep the GOP from turning off the under-40 voters who support legal pot" Yeah. And we can legalize abortion to pick up those votes, too!
I know voters that are pro-pot and antiabortion and they are Trump voters. I know a family of them, through a mutual friend. I don't imagine they represent any huge number of Trump voters though. Trump barely won with a margin of around 70,000 votes across MI/WI/PA. Otherwise, he would not be prez. Just how many votes do you think the GOP can throw away by going mad on Grumpy Old Men rampage? Look at that wacko McStain running around Europe like he was elected president and then trying to stir up more war in Syria. If Trump wants to keep the White House, he'd better consider how many voters, especially younger voters, he can afford to lose. I expect the Dems will exploit any crackdowns on pot to defeat incumbent GOP congressmen in 2018. No doubt, they will exploit that. What's wrong, isn't Trump pissing off enough people for you? I think there is a limit, even for Trump.
I'll reiterate my sentiment that the idea that pot is recreation was promoted by forces inimical to the well being of our nation. Further I'd say that pot is the thin edge of a wedge that admits the abuse of much worse sorts of toxins. Somebody's laughing on the way to the vault. I'm talking about the guys with the keys to the bank. Be that as it may, I've heard some grumpy liberal female social workers complain about the kids they have to deal with: the rootless, the underparented, the homeless. Kids that have problems. Kids whose problems are made much more acute and intractable because of the stuff that they habitually abuse. The more pot that is in circulation for whatever purpose, recreational, medical or whatever, the higher the probability is that this stuff gets into the hands of young people. The average potency of marijuana that is trafficked now is much higher than it used to be which also adds to the problem. There will continue to be a sober body of opinion that pot is a problem. That includes a large number of people that far exceeds some grumpy old white guys that hammer on keyboards on their favorite forum. I just pray that we as a nation gravitate toward a center of gravity that begins to inch away from the hedonistic mindset that has become almost a cultural norm. All dope is a weapon in the hands of those that hate this country.
Year in, year out, the numbers just don't seem to show that. It seems to me that this kind of polling, being non-political, is more likely to be accurate than the polls that predicted Xlinton's win or Trump's defeat. On sodomy marriage and legal pot, younger GOP voters have moved a long way from their older counterparts (who are, due to age, dying off). Both the Cold Warriors and the Drug Warriors are dying off and there are few converts anywhere among the younger generation. Legal prescription drugs, opiates, tobacco and alcohol are widely perceived to be far more dangerous to all age groups than legal pot.
Pot is a disease.
Alcoholism is a disease. Lung cancer from tobacco is a disease. Yet we love to tax them and let people ruin their lives and die from them decade after decade. Pot is demonstrably far less harmful, yet it is considered same-as-heroin.
You're correct in many of the observations you've brought to bear on this topic. It's always an education to read your posts. Lots of bad habits are more than just bad habits. They are destructive not just on an individual basis. They're also immensely costly when multiplied in the millions. My beef is the way we've been sold on yet another bad idea, as if we weren't already beset with a whole bunch of them. There is a faction abroad that is bent on selling us really bad ideas, and that faction is quite good at it. Pot smoking and the use of associated psychoactive stuff is a problem that, not very long ago, we didn't have to face. At least at any significant level. I've known quite a lot of people growing up that started out with this practice who've ended up badly. They started out with herb and got into more serious kinds of abuse. Some of them are not with us any more. I could tell you a lot of stories, but I'll spare you that. I'm sure that most of us here could fill in the blanks. It seems to me that pot is a problem without a solution. There may be a sort of resolution however where we try to divorce pot use from more destructive habits by ending prohibition. But, like alcohol, it will still be a problem. In short, I'm not good with it. I always discourage pot when I talk to kids.
Sure. And alcohol and tobacco? How about dangerous sports? Does liberty top your agenda or safety? As with tobacco and alcohol, the single best solution is to educate against them at a young age. Going back to the failed War On Drugs is no solution. It never worked. And it has only gotten worse. Pot doesn't even register when compared to opiates (legal and illegal) or to alcohol or tobacco.
#52. To: Tooconservative (#40)
(Edited)
I agree with you entirely. However, folks that I know that died from the use of opiates, and indirectly even psychedelics (i.e. through misadventure) started out smoking pot. I was an innocent pleasure. By the way, I had a friend that committed suicide because it interfered badly with the anti-psychotic drugs he was taking. Bad combination. Yes. Problem is that there are forces out there whose job it is to undo all that you can do to educate them. It is a problem without a solution given the current constellation of things.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestWhile Spicer emphasized the difference between medical and recreational marijuana, he overlooked a more important distinction: between opposing state laws that allow recreational use of marijuana and supporting federal intervention aimed at overriding them. That distinction is clear in the latest Quinnipiac University poll, which finds that 71 percent of Americans "oppose the government enforcing federal laws against marijuana in states that have already legalized medical or recreational marijuana." By comparison, 59 percent think marijuana "should be made legal in the United States." That means many Americans who oppose legalization nevertheless think states should be free to adopt that policy. A disproportionate number of those people are members of Trump's party: While only 35 percent of Republicans in the Quinnipiac poll supported marijuana legalization, 55 percent opposed federal interference with it.
The most straightforward way to stop Sessions from cracking down on state-licensed marijuana businesses, assuming Trump does not plan to keep his campaign promise, is for Congress to pass the Respect State Marijuana Laws Act, which Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) reintroduced a few weeks ago. The bill, which so far has 14 cosponsors, half of them Republicans, would add a single sentence to the Controlled Substances Act: "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the provisions of this subchapter related to marihuana shall not apply to any person acting in compliance with State laws relating to the production, possession, distribution, dispensation, administration, or delivery of marihuana."
#6. To: Tooconservative (#3)
"But that list never included going after the pot industry in states where it was legalized."
#9. To: misterwhite (#6)
Yeah. And we can legalize abortion to pick up those votes, too!
#13. To: Tooconservative (#9)
going mad on Grumpy Old Men rampage
#15. To: randge (#13)
There will continue to be a sober body of opinion that pot is a problem. That includes a large number of people that far exceeds some grumpy old white guys that hammer on keyboards on their favorite forum.
#19. To: Tooconservative (#15)
#22. To: randge (#19)
Pot is a disease.
#37. To: Tooconservative (#22)
#40. To: randge (#37)
I've known quite a lot of people growing up that started out with this practice who've ended up badly. They started out with herb and got into more serious kinds of abuse. Some of them are not with us any more. I could tell you a lot of stories, but I'll spare you that. I'm sure that most of us here could fill in the blanks.
It seems to me that pot is a problem without a solution. There may be a sort of resolution however where we try to divorce pot use from more destructive habits by ending prohibition. But, like alcohol, it will still be a problem.
Replies to Comment # 40. Going back to the failed War On Drugs is no solution. It never worked. And it has only gotten worse. Pot doesn't even register when compared to opiates (legal and illegal) or to alcohol or tobacco.
As with tobacco and alcohol, the single best solution is to educate against them at a young age.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 40.
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