Decriminalization of Marijuana vs. Local Regulatory Control
We Don’t Juana Give Everyone Power to Decide
[i:219a1fc06c]Decriminalization of Marijuana vs. Local Regulatory Control[/i:219a1fc06c]
Marijuana, a Schedule I mild hallucinogen is illegal to purchase, cultivate and posses in all fifty states of the union . In recent years, states have taken steps to harness the medical benefits of this drug and some have even gone so far as to decriminalize it altogether. States such as California and Oregon led the charge for decriminalization with several others following in step1. Marijuana, used alone cannot be abused to the point of an overdose and there are no documented cases of a marijuana related death. Given this trend many local and town governments have tried to use this as grounds for decriminalizing marijuana as well as many other more potent and fatal ‘recreational’ drugs.
The decriminalization of marijuana by local government has been utilized by certain individuals in attempt to amend the current laws on drug use. Their arguments are invalid due to the fact that municipal governments do not, and should not, have the power to take such action. Therefore using these state decriminalization cases as examples to call for a nationwide decriminalization of “recreational drugs” cannot prove to be effective.
Article I and article IV of the Constitution grant states the power to a legislative body unto themselves with a code of law for each member of the Union. The Federalists purposely gave these specific rights to the States, not towns or municipalities, to ensure that a majority faction could never be established enabling an area to fall victim to politics of self-interest. In Federalist Ten Madison points out that;
“There are again two methods of removing the causes of faction. The one: destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence; the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions and the same interests.”
(Fed. 10, pg. 72)
While it may seem more democratic to give equal say to every town and city, and force states to recognize this power, it is this concept which will deconstruct the careful equilibrium of power this nation strove so hard to achieve. If this were the case every single vote in our elections would count, but instead that power is granted to the Electoral College. Instead it is recognized that if every town is granted a legislative body unto itself, power is taken from the state level as well as the nation...