On Nov. 6, Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize marijuana across the board for both medical and recreational use without a prescription. It’s not decriminalization; it’s complete legalization.
Take a moment to let that sink in.
Marijuana in Colorado is to be regulated much like alcohol. People won’t be able to smoke in public and can still be arrested for being high in public, much like one can be arrested for public drunkenness. Marijuana possession and consumption will be illegal for individuals under the age of 21. It will, however, be completely legal to sell, grow and possess in limited quantities. Sales of marijuana will be taxed by the state governments similarly to the taxation of tobacco. Marijuana will only be allowed to be sold in stores that sell nothing but marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia.
It will likely be a boon to the states’ economies due to an influx of tourists looking to smoke legally and the munchies that will almost certainly result from said smoking tourists. Take-out places, take note.
However, White Castle and Taco Bell may want to wait a while before opening new Colorado and Washington franchises. Marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, and federal law is supposed to supersede state law. So this legislation ought to be meaningless, right? Denver, “The Mile-High City,” is not likely to get that much higher any time soon, is it?
The answers may surprise you.
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said, “This will be a complicated process, but we intend to follow through. That said, federal law still says marijuana is an illegal drug, so don’t break out the Cheetos or Goldfish too quickly.” And it probably will be a complicated process, but perhaps it will be less complicated than one might think.
California, for instance, legalized medical marijuana in 1996, also in violation of federal law. State police and investigators simply stopped helping the Drug Enforcement Administration to bust medical marijuana dispensaries. With no cooperation from local authorities, the DEA has not been able to shut down dispensaries with any kind of consistency or effectiveness, though they will still occasionally raid a dispensary just for kicks. Apart from those occasional raids, they have largely just given up.
Something similar will likely happen in Colorado and Washington. The DEA cannot operate effectively without cooperation from state and local officials and police, and these state and local officials and police now have no reason to cooperate. So federal law will still technically be in force, but it will be unenforceable. The federal government could send in their own enforcers, of course, but such extreme measures as invading one of our own states doesn’t seem proportional to stopping a couple stoners from spending the night smoking weed and having revolutionary thoughts about cats. Colorado and Washington will probably end up like California, subject to occasional random DEA raids that have no real effectiveness.
The legalization measures in Colorado and Washington are an amazing step forward for progressive legislation in this country. Legislation like this would have been completely unthinkable even five years ago. However, the federal government continues to oppose marijuana legalization, so the average marijuana user will not be safe from random DEA raids. Legalization at the federal level is the next step, but it may be quite a while before marijuana gains enough acceptance for any such federal legislation to pass.
Justin Roczniak is the Op-Ed editor of The Triangle. He can be contacted at justin.roczniak@thetriangle.org
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Federal Law is supposed to supersede state law?
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
The Tenth Amendment……
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
SEEMS CLEAR AS A BELL THAT STATE LAW SUPERSEDES FEDERAL LAW HERE.
You need to re-read washington law. No one can be arrested for being high in public. Only in a car with an active metabolite reading of 5 nanongrams.
Accuracy in communicating these details reduces hysteria from folks who do not understand the new cannabis laws.