Posted on 02/25/2005 10:22:10 AM PST by nyg4168
"States' rights" has always been anathema to liberals--a code word for the Southern racism that embraced slavery, and later segregation. Nowadays, however, in an era when Red America controls the federal government and pushes things like a national ban on gay marriage, progressives are embracing states' rights: the founding fathers' idea of Federalism, in which states cede a few key powers to D.C. while maintaining robust sovereignty themselves.
So, what's the latest group to make the case that states' rights should determine policy? Try the flaming liberals at the King County Bar Association (KCBA), who on March 3 will release a radical proposal urging Olympia to reform local drug laws. And by "reform," the KCBA means make certain drugs legal so they can be yanked off the street (a hotbed of violent crime and addiction) and placed in a tightly regulated state market. Regulation could allow for things like safe injection sites, be used to wean addicts off drugs, and sap a black market that gives kids access to drugs.
The mammoth proposal (www.kcba.org/druglaw/proposal.html)--which includes extensive academic research on the history of drug laws, conspiratorial details about the successful efforts of corporations like DuPont and Hearst to squelch hemp production in the 1930s, and dispiriting facts about the failed drug war--is anchored by a 16-page treatise titled "States' Rights: Toward a Federalist Drug Policy."
This states' rights manifesto is the KCBA's rejoinder to the inevitable question: How can Washington State get away with regulating (i.e., legalizing) drugs, like heroin and pot, that the federal government has outlawed under the Controlled Substances Act? It's also a direct challenge to the feds.
"[If our proposals are adopted] we would expect that the U.S. government would seek an injunction in federal court," Roger Goodman, director of the Drug Policy Project of the KCBA, says enthusiastically. Goodman's idea is to force a legal standoff that, he hopes, will eventually set the precedent for states to buck the feds' misguided "war on drugs" by giving states control over the production and distribution of drugs like pot.
The Constitution grants the federal government the right to regulate commerce, which is the cornerstone of the Controlled Substances Act. The KCBA report, which Goodman put together, outlines a couple of states' rights arguments that could be used to trump that authority. The report points out accurately that states have exclusive rights to protect the health, welfare, and safety of their citizens, which includes regulating the practice of medicine. "Recent case law has limited federal authority to meddle in the states' regulation of medical practice," the report says, "particularly limiting the use of the federal Controlled Substances Act to override a state's decisions." This is a reference to a 2002 decision in Oregon v. Ashcroft when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals stopped the feds from using drug law to upend Oregon's Death with Dignity Act where drugs are used in assisted suicide.
The KCBA also argues that when a state becomes a "market participant" by running drug-distribution outlets, the activity would be beyond the scope of federal commerce power. "[C]annabis availability for adults through exclusive state-owned outlets, for instance, would render Washington immune to federal intervention " the KCBA's states' rights manifesto argues.
Obviously, these legal arguments are just that: arguments. The KCBA readily admits as much. "Whether Washington could now promulgate its own regulatory system
of substances that are currently prohibited under federal law is a critical open question," the report allows. However, raising that question is an important first step in itself. According to Goodman: "That's always part of the reform process."
This is more kookish propaganda from the pro-drug crowd. Don't let anyone fool you, we are winning the war on drugs, one dealer/user/producer/trafficker at a time.
Even if the courts ruled that the Federal prohibition is valid, ending state laws against drug use would save the states money. The cost of enforcement would be shifted in toto to the federal government, and the state law enforcement agencies would not have to do a thing to help them.
I think I agree. This is a perfect area in which federalism can pay dividends. As a conservative with zeal of the newly converted, I no longer care too much about the libertarian's desire to create an amoral anything goes society, but we've got to start thinking outside the box. Legalized drugs will take the profit motive away from the drug dealers.
LOL!!
You forgot your sarcasm tags!
Maybe you don't think drugs should be legalized, but you can't possibly believe the "war on drugs" is being won. What evidence do you have to support that?
Any cost of enforcement shifted to the feds ends up being higher federal taxes and MORE power to the federal government for all of us. That said, I'm all for state actions that result in re-establishing state's rights over federal rights. This one is odd, but I like to hear other states besides us southerners bringing it up.
I agree. I think everything shoul go to states rights. Abortion, homosexual marriage, drug laws, etc....should all be dealt with by each individual state as they see fit. The federal government should stay out of it!
Precisely, just because we remove the laws on this doesn't mean we've condoned an amoral society. Thinking outside the box, as you said, can allow us to find other ways to attack these problems. Individual responsibility is going to have to be taught and learned in America again.
No one will ever legalize drugs in America because there would be no excuse to ever RAISE TAXES again!~}
The Stranger, OY! the meshugana liberal fish-wrap of Seattle.
And I have NO DOUBT Gregoire would love a new tax source.
BAHAHAHAHAAH!!
Your kidding right?
The states have just about taxed cigarettes out of existence their treasury's are sinking without all that Cigarette tax money , they are looking for new sources of money. Legalise drugs and they have it, The states arent worried about criminals making money they just want a new thing to tax .Legalise drugs and the momey you save on locking up drug dealers will be spent on social services to wean folks off the hard stuff. Now having said that I am a proponent of prescription use of heroin for terminal patients. Its cheaper and does a better job than the synthesized stuff.
I disagree.........Just legalizing marijuana alone, and treating it like alcohol and tobacco (restrictions on age and taxing it) would reap financial windfalls at all levels of government.
First would be the criminal justice system would not be overburdened with petty stuff, thus saving taxpayers dollars better used for prosecuting more important stuff;
Second would be freeing up law enforcement to actually deal with the real criminals that neeed to be dealt with by the rest of the criminal just system, thus saving tax payer dollars;
And finally, by eliminating the black market and collecting taxes on it like alcohol and tobacco, any time the state needs a quiet way to balance a budget they can just up the excise tax on it, just like they now do to alcohol and tobacco.
Sounds like a winning proposition all the way around. It seems to me
Seatle is in Washington state, King County is where the Dems pulled off their theft of the Governors office. Not a Southern State.
Really? Introductory Economics says not so. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1351049/posts
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