Medicinal Marijuana and States' Rights

The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard arguments on the issue of California's medicinal marijuana law, which makes the growth and consumption of marijuana for personal medical use legal in the state. The background is that California, in passing the law, asserts the right to say that it's citizens can use medicinal marijuana despite federal anti-drug laws. The federal government disagrees with this of course, and has siezed medicinal marijuana and in some cases arrested or tried it's growers in California.

The immediate issue of course is the right of sick, disabled and otherwise ill persons to use marijuana to alleviate the symptoms of their various ailments. Medical science has established it's effectiveness, but in our hyper anti-drug culture, it's legality is the the real question. The real issue though is, who gets to decide whether or not it's legal.

Conservative columnist Maggie Gallagher has a column about this very issue. Generally conservatives are in favor of states' rights, and she is no exception. Unlike some conservatives though she doesn't make an exception to that stance for moral issues that are important to her, and she should be applauded for sticking to her principles (unlike some other shifty cons on the right.)

Unfortunately, the issue of states' rights has most commonly been associated with those who'd like to roll back the clock to the days of legalized segregation in some states, or further still, to the days of the confederacy. So yes, the principle is tainted by a sour history of its use by racists to justify racist policies in the south, but it's a legitimate principle, and one that our nation was founded upon.

For good and bad reasons though, the principle of states' rights has eroded significantly since the founding of the country. Couched in the language of the commerce clause, the Supreme Court has significantly extended the right of Congress to pass legislation over issues that in the past would have been decided by the states. The extension of this power is the primary justification for the various laws passed by the federal government concerning drugs and drug crimes, up to the point we're at today where Congress feels like it has the authority to pass laws against medicinal marijuana despite the wishes of a majority of a states' citizens.

I for one support states' rights. I don't find that to be a contradiction to any of my liberal principles either; I support the right of people to choose for themselves what their laws will be, not only in our country as a whole, but in our individual states as well. I favor diversity in general, as I think diversity gives rise to diverse opinions, and diverse solutions to problems and to me that applies to states no less than individual persons(other states may borrow California's techniqe, after all.) And to me the question is not as difficult as it appears to be. General, I believe the power of the federal government should be used to enforce the amendment rights of its citizens first, promote the economic strength and stability of the country second, and uphold general rights not provided for in the constitution third. Nowhere in that principle is there any allowance for the federal government to pass draconian drug laws on issues that are local in nature, like the one of medicinal marijuana, that states support. There's hardly anything economic in nature in the growth and use of medicinal marijuana by those who are too sick to find comfort in anything else. To me, the issue is a no-brainer, but the the Supreme Court will spend far too long arguing about it, and in the end may uphold the general erosion of states' rights, to the detriment of not only Californians, but all of us (except perhaps anti-drug preaching moralists.)

As an aside, Gallagher is wrong about one thing:

As conservatives control national government, liberals (including those on the Supreme Court) may in general acquire a newfound respect for the virtues of at least some constitutional restrictions on the power of the federal government. Perhaps.

She conveniently leaves out that, for the most part, conservatives are the ones who support the upholding of this draconian drug law. The mote in your own party's eye, and all that...

UPDATE: Alabama becomes an unlikely ally of California on medical marijuana use.