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The Supreme Court has refused to hear a challenge to Colorado's recreational cannabis law from neighboring states:
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday threw out a lawsuit filed by the states of Nebraska and Oklahoma against their neighbor Colorado over a law approved as a ballot initiative by Colorado voters in 2012 that allows the recreational use of marijuana. The court declined to hear the case filed by Nebraska and Oklahoma, which said that marijuana is being smuggled across their borders and noted that federal law still prohibits the drug. Two conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, said they would have heard the case.
Nebraska and Oklahoma contended that drugs such as marijuana threaten the health and safety of children and argued that Colorado had created "a dangerous gap" in the federal drug control system. Colorado stands by its law. It noted that the Obama administration has indicated the federal government lacks the resources and inclination to enforce fully the federal marijuana ban.
Also at The Washington Post, NYT.
See the Plaintiffs' brief, and Colorado's brief in opposition.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 22 2016, @02:07AM
GP here. Thank you for the interesting comment. My own knowledge of history as concerns the commerce clause was lacking (with exception for events leading to the Civil War). I was mostly being cynical.
If you were to drive from Colorado to another state where pot is legal with the intent to sell a bunch of pot, and got (legally) pulled over and searched while crossing through a third state where pot is not legal, what would happen then?
A couple years ago I took a road trip to Colorado. I tried edibles, but that wasn't my cup of tea (or bar of chocolate). I'd briefly considered attempting to get an “exit bag” as they're called with a quarter gram of cannabis flower through all the states I needed to travel through to get back to flyover country. Of course I would have no intention to sell; my only intention was to attempt to heal from the mental illness which I currently suffer.
I would fully expect to be arrested in pursuance of state laws in the state in which I was apprehended. Another similar situation might be found with certain haz-mat. Consider class 7 haz-mat: radioactive material. I don't have my haz-mat endorsement any more due to DHS rules (and haven't driven a big truck in 10 years at any rate). Can a driver here elaborate? I've never driven an oversized load, but I'm familiar with the regulations. Are there similar rules for class 7 haz-mat similar?
At any rate, that would clearly fall under the commerce clause. I suppose I just have to wonder whether or not states in-between would want commercial vehicles transporting cannabis flower on their roads or not. The prohibition of cannabis flower is all very steeped in emotion and quite irrational (hence my comparison to radioactive material).
Goodness knows people think cannabis flower should be class 7 haz-mat. It's green! ZOMG!
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday March 22 2016, @07:50PM
"I tried edibles, but that wasn't my cup of tea (or bar of chocolate)."
Is it a different effect? I tried smoking the stuff a couple times, with mixed results. Ultimately I can't stand the smell, which reminds me of roadkill on warm summer nights in the West. An edible form might be interesting to try.
Washington DC delenda est.