(TargetLiberty.org) – Federal laws on possessing and using marijuana have given the US the world’s highest prison population and cost us billions. Now a conservative judge has a radical solution – let states decide.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said federal marijuana laws “may no longer be necessary” due to the large number of federal policies that have “greatly undermined its reasoning" https://t.co/Yd51QjPI7M pic.twitter.com/8bBmXrMp5h
— The Hill (@thehill) June 29, 2021
On June 28, veteran United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas issued a five-page statement calling for a rethinking of federal marijuana laws. Thomas, a long-time conservative voice on the Court, says federal laws on the drug are “contradictory” and “unstable,” and while they might have made sense at one time, they “may no longer be necessary.”
Thomas says that, with states able to make their own rules on marijuana, the federal laws have now become confusing, prohibiting and allowing the drug at the same time. Eighteen states already allow the recreational use of marijuana – a direct contradiction of federal law – and most other states now allow it for medical purposes. The vast majority of the American people now support legalizing it, although President Biden is one of the minority who doesn’t want to legalize it.
According to Thomas, the current situation “strains basic principles of federalism” and risks people being caught by confusing and unclear laws. The Constitution – which Thomas has stoutly defended through his 30 years on the Supreme Court – protects the rights of states to legislate on most matters. Is it time for the federal government to turn over marijuana law to where it belongs?
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