COURT SHOULD UPHOLD ABILITY OF STATES TO MAKE THEIR OWN LAWS

In the new term the U.S. Supreme Court started this week, it will decide
whether the federal government can thwart and override state laws regarding
the medicinal use of marijuana.

The case isn't really about drug use. It's about who has authority over
state laws. The court should uphold and protect the ability of states to
form their own laws and limit the ability of the federal government to
impose its will on the states.

The case the court will hear involves Angel McClary Raich, a California
woman who suffers from a brain tumor. Ms. Raich's doctor advised her to
smoke marijuana to relieve the pain from her condition. California law
makes such use of the drug legal. So the woman started growing marijuana
for her own use.

But federal authorities have been arresting such people under federal law.
Raich has sued to bar such prosecutions.

A federal court of appeals has already ruled in her favor, deciding that
the federal government has no jurisdiction to prosecute someone for
producing and consuming marijuana that never crosses state lines.

It was the correct decision. If Ms. Raich is obeying the law in California,
and he activity does not cross state lines, it is hard to see how federal
authority should be involved.

In fact, the government's position seems to stretch reason. Federal
authorities argue that if people are allowed to grow and use marijuana for
their own pain relief, then it will depress the market for commercial pain
medications and inhibit the ability of Congress to regulate the nation's
drug market.

The truth is that California's law doesn't match the policy set by
Washington, and so federal authorities want to thwart and nullify this
state law. But they should have no power to do so.

The Constitution does not give Congress the final authority over state
laws, despite the fact that federal bureaucrats and lawmakers like to think
of themselves as supervisors of the states.

State laws should be made by the people of those states, the same people
who have to live under them. They shouldn't be subject to the policies of
Washington.

The federal government has no constitutional reason to act against
California's law or against those obeying that law. The court should rule
for Ms. Raich.