MARIJUANA DECISION IS WORSE THAN YOU THINK

I applaud Daniel Henninger's June 10 Wonder Land column "Marijuana! Supreme
Court Just Says No." The Supreme Court decision presented some interesting
lessons. Two so-called conservative members of the court joined the
so-called liberals in confirming the federal government's right to regulate
medical marijuana via a stilted interpretation of the Commerce Clause. I
can understand the liberal judges' motives. They want to keep the federal
government all powerful for when they have a majority in Congress again.
But why did the two conservatives join them? Is it as simple as a blind
adherence to selected recent precedent?

If the vote had gone the other way, this precedent might well have been
used to fight for more freedom from government interference in many aspects
of our lives. As it is, it will now be used as an excuse for more interference.

The conservatives of my youth always wanted strict enforcement of the
limits on federal power and, therefore, less regulation. Today's
conservatives seem to have lost their way. Here they are supporting just
the type of law they used to deride.

Folks, if you want less federal interference in your daily life and
business in matters of economic regulation, in education, in local criminal
matters, then you must support less federal interference in the drug war.
The same expansive interpretation of the Commerce Clause that permits
federal regulation of marijuana permits federal regulation of the number of
gallons that your toilet can use per flush, the number of acres of corn
that a farmer can plant and every other nonsensical federal intervention.

Michael Kerner

Lenexa, Kan.