It is perhaps worth mentioning that the two teams that made it to the Super Bowl on Sunday represent Colorado and Washington – the two states that recently legalized marijuana. If this somehow helps accelerate the recent decline in public support for the War on Drugs, it will almost be enough to offset my disappointment […]
Archive | War on Drugs
New Hampshire House Passes Marijuana Legalization Law
The New Hampshire House of Representatives recently became the first state legislative house to pass marijuana legalization. Legalization measures adopted in Colorado and Washington in 2012 passed by referendum. As the above-linked Concord Monitor article notes, the law faces tough sledding in the state senate, and could well be vetoed by New Hampshire’s Democratic Governor […]
Uruguay Legalizes Marijuana
Uruguay recently adopted the most far-reaching legalization of marijuana attempted by any nation in recent decades: The passage of a landmark marijuana legalization measure Tuesday means Uruguay is set to become the first country in the world to have a system regulating legal production, sale and consumption of the drug. It’s practically a done deal. […]
Federalism and Marijuana Event
Many constitutional conservatives were critical of the Supreme Court’s decision in Gonzales v. Raich, holding that the federal government’s Commerce Clause power could reach the intrastate use and possession of marijuana for medical purposes authorized under state law. Now that an ever-growing number of states has chosen to authorize marijuana use and possession — some […]
NAACP Backs State Autonomy on Marijuana Policy
By Ilya Somin on November 11, 2013 11:20 am in Federalism, Racial Discrimination, Racism, War on Drugs
The NAACP recently passed a resolution backing a proposed federal law that would prohibit enforcement of federal laws banning marijuana in states that have imposed lesser penalties or have legalized marijuana entirely. The resolution cites the “misguided and misplaced policies” of the War on Drugs, which have resulted in “the disproportionate over-confinement of racial and […]
Interim Police Chief Threatens Police Attention for Those Who Advocate for Drug Legalization
Ken White (Popehat) has the details, with the text of the chief’s Facebook comments. Pretty appalling. Thanks to Charles Chapman for the pointer.
Marijuana Legalization Polls at 58%-39% in New National Gallup Survey
So Gallup reports; the reported margin of error is +/-4%, and the question was, “Do you think the use of marijuana should be made legal, or not?” I’m always skeptical of single data points such as this one, but this seems to be consistent with a broader trend; in 1995, there was only 25% support […]
15-Year-Old Rastafarian Has Religious Freedom Right to Possess Drug Paraphernalia
So holds the Minnesota Court of Appeals in today’s In the Matter of the Welfare of J.J.M. A. (surprisingly, an opinion labeled by the court as nonprecedential). J.J.M.A. was arrested for, among other things, possession of a glass pipe used for smoking marijuana, which was covered by the state ban on possessing drug paraphernelia. Minnesota […]
It’s Such a Great TV Show That Even The Criminals Like It
From the facts of United States v. Cross, a decision from Chief Judge Garland handed down yesterday involving a wiretap that targeted a large-scale heroin conspiracy: On the wiretap, the agents overheard a series of conversations between Toure and appellant Cross. On several occasions, Cross used coded language to place narcotics orders. Cross and Toure […]
DEA Has Its Own Phone Call Database
The NYT reports on the Drug Enforcement Administration’s “vast phone trove,” “an enormous AT&T database that contains the records of decades of Americans’ phone calls,” and appears more expansive than that maintained by the National Security Agency. The Hemisphere Project, a partnership between federal and local drug officials and AT&T that has not previously been reported, […]
Size Still Matters in the Federal Government’s War on Marijuana
Co-blogger Will Baude makes a good point in noting that the Justice Department’s new memo on federal marijuana enforcement takes a more favorable tone towards large state-licensed marijuana businesses than its 2011 predecessor. Unfortunately, however, this is only a very minor shift. The new memo states that prosecutors should not use “the size or commercial […]
The Relevance of the “Size or Commercial Nature” of a Marijuana Business
I agree with Ilya that DOJ’s new marijuana federalism memo leaves a lot to be desired, but there was point in it that I was pleased (and surprised) to see. The 2011 Cole memo about medical marijuana spoke very disparagingly about large, profitable operations: The Department’s view of the efficient use of limited federal resources […]
Justice Department Finally Announces its Response to the Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado and Washington
Understandably overshadowed by the debate over a possible US military intervention in Syria is the Justice Department’s long-awaited announcement of its response to the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington. Criminal law experts, legalization advocates, and others have long wanted to know whether and to what extent the DOJ intends to continue federal marijuana […]
Democratic Members of Congress Press Holder for Answers on Use of NSA Surveillance Data in the War on Drugs
Eight Democratic members of Congress are pushing Attorney General Eric Holder to answer questions about the use of NSA surveillance data in the War on Drugs: Eight Democratic senators and congressmen have asked Attorney General Eric Holder to answer questions about a Reuters report that the National Security Agency supplies the Drug Enforcement Administration with […]
Obama Opposed to Changing Legal Status of Marijuana “at this Point”
The White House recently confirmed that President Obama continues to oppose the legalization of marijuana, despite growing public support for the idea: President Barack Obama does not support changes to the legal classification of marijuana, the White House said Wednesday, despite growing evidence of its medical benefits. White House spokesman Josh Earnest was asked for […]