THE WASHINGTON AND COLORADO POT LEGALIZATION DILEMMA

If the Justice Department and the DEA do not aggressively enforce the federal laws prohibiting the possession, manufacture and distribution of marijuana, the failure to act will serve as a green light for other states not only to legalize pot, but to override other federal laws as well

The Washington Post reports that in response to the vote which legalized marijuana in Washington, “state and local police are being restrained to arrest drivers who are high” at the urging of prosecutors. Don’t arrest stoned drivers? Have those Washington prosecutors taken leave of their senses? Don’t’ they realized that a driver high on pot is every bit as dangerous as a drunk driver? Hmm, that makes me think those prosecutors were among the first to toke up the weed.

I have never believed that marijuana is an innocuous drug. As a matter of fact, I am convinced that cannabis is one of the most dangerous drugs there is because, for many pot users, it is the gateway drug to hard drugs like heroin, cocaine, meth and designer drugs. I could care less that the proponents of pot pooh-pooh the gateway drug thing by proclaiming that by the same token you could also say milk is the gateway substance to everything we do. When you ask a heroin addict what drug he started on, he will tell you it was pot. And the same holds true for those addicted to other dangerous drugs.

Now that the states of Washington and Colorado are about to legalize marijuana, what are the Justice Department and the DEA going to do about it? They can sit on their butts and do little or nothing. Or they can aggressively enforce the federal laws against the possession, manufacture and distribution of marijuana.

The legalization of marijuana by Washington and Colorado presents the federal government with a real dilemma. If the Justice Department and the DEA choose to ignore the federal prohibition against pot, what is to prevent any of the 50 states from passing other laws that override current federal laws? The obvious answer is ‘nothing.’

According to the constitution, federal law supersedes state and local laws. I believe that when Washington and Colorado legalized the use of marijuana, they did so in violation of the United States Constitution. That also applies to the states that have passed ‘medical’ marijuana laws in the face of federal laws that prohibit the use, possession, manufacture and distribution of pot.

Those who oppose the legalization of marijuana, and those who believe in the sanctity of our constitution, can solve the dilemma posed by the new pot laws in Washington and Colorado by going before the federal courts to challenge the constitutionality of state laws that are passed in defiance of federal law.

Considering the current conservative makeup of the Supreme Court, if those state laws are challenged, it is likely that the legalization of marijuana by Washington and Colorado will be overturned.