SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Coinciding with the midterm elections yesterday were state ballots proposing the legalization of cannabis. All three territories where full legalization was tabled approved the measure, joining Washington state and Colorado in giving cannabis the nod. The narrowest vote was that of Alaska at a roughly 52 to 48 percent margin. Washington D.C. meanwhile saw the vote strongly tipped in favor at about 69% to 31% opposed. Buoyed by the news, advocates of legal cannabis are already contemplating the next round of state ballots in 2016.
The referendums come amid shifts in American opinions on marijuana in recent years that have energized efforts to legalize cannabis, a drug that remains illegal under federal law even as Colorado and Washington state have been given the go-ahead to experiment with legalization.
On the other side of the spectrum, a medical marijuana initiative in Florida was defeated with 58% in favor, 42% opposed; the initiative needed 60% to pass.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 05 2014, @11:29PM
Why was that comment modded up? Anyone who knows anything at all about American history will know that that has always been the case. It has been a well-understood and elementary principle of American politics for many decades now. It isn't insightful; it's obvious!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by prospectacle on Wednesday November 05 2014, @11:54PM
Forgive me I'm but a humble outsider and casual observer. It's just odd that news reports about america, news and opinion pieces from america, and a lot of internet discussions of american politics all focus mainly on federal politics and politicians, as if it's what really matters. If it's states that are the engines of change then trends among the states would be a more profitable focus for virtually everyone involved.
I guess if the answer is just that mass media tends to focuses on things which are simple, easy to sensationalise, and not really that important, then that's nothing new.
If a plan isn't flexible it isn't realistic
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday November 06 2014, @01:25PM
The US isn't like the EU. Here, federal law trumps state law, so legalizing a federal crime at the state level does little. If we get the wrong President in the White House, the DEA will come down on Colorado and the rest like a ton of bricks. It needs to be legalized at the federal level.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by cykros on Friday November 07 2014, @01:12AM
They'd be crazy to try, really. Between being obstructed by every state level office/law enforcement agency around and being horribly outnumbered by civilians, the DEA would just be walking into a big old ball of bad press (and likely, server to make cannabis MORE abundant and available as a result of the backlash...but then, that's been the way the drug war has worked since day 1).
That all said, yes, the Supreme Court is where things get decided when State and Federal law don't quite line up, as it defers to the Constitution to determine whether or not the Federal legislature has been given the authority by the states as a union to enact whatever law it is that disagrees with a particular state law. It's NOT the case at all that Federal law ALWAYS trumps state law, and that is exactly what the Constitution lays out.
As you can see though, our history and civics (they still have these somewhere, right?) classes here are more hung up with American folklore, slogans, and memorizing presidents than they are on actually teaching anyone how things work, and this has been much to the boon of governments at all levels having a lot less eloquent dissent to have to address in the first place.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Friday November 07 2014, @06:26PM
It's NOT the case at all that Federal law ALWAYS trumps state law
It's certainly true that congress passes unconstitutional laws, but they've ruled that this is covered by the "commerce clause".
As you can see though, our history and civics (they still have these somewhere, right?) classes here are more hung up with American folklore, slogans, and memorizing presidents than they are on actually teaching anyone how things work
I don't know, it's been decades since I was im public school, but that's pretty much they way they "taught" everything back then.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by cykros on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:40AM
Yea...unfortunately, one of the worst ways to learn how the system works is by trusting public school teachers, and moreso, the textbooks. At some point or other, a lot of people realized there was a lot of power to be seized by enticing people with the whole "let the professional politicians worry about governance," when in fact our whole system was devised to contain the extent of that sort of centralized power to begin with.
All that said, if a Federal law is deemed constitutional, then yes, it is generally correct that it will always trump state law, with the Supreme Court holding that decision making power (and regardless of anything else, a Supreme Court ruling absolutely does trump State Law).
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Friday November 07 2014, @02:03PM
Not unless Congress also approves a *MASSIVE* increase to the DEA's budget.
They have 3000 field agents. For the entire country. Half the nation (23 states plus DC) now has some form of legal marijuana (either medical or recreational). It'd really suck if you were one of the people they caught, but they wouldn't have any hope at this point of catching and prosecuting even a small fraction of offenders. And the courts would be backed up for *decades* too. And federal prisons are already overcrowded.
There's also still a risk that the courts would rule against them -- the legality of the war on drugs has been questionable from the start, and with popular opinion now turning against it, the courts might too. I don't think it's ever been seriously challenged in court by the states. Remember all the NSA lawsuits that were thrown out because the people couldn't prove *their* rights were violated, so the courts said they didn't have standing to sue? Well, the states are the ones whose rights are violated by the war on drugs. So a state challenging it is significantly different from an individual citizen challenging it.
The ONLY way it can remain illegal is with the cooperation of state-level law enforcement. The feds lost any hope of winning this battle several years ago.