The Long Slog to Legalizing Marijuana in the U.S. Is Just Beginning

[xchrom]

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/01/the-long-slog-to-legalizing-marijuana-in-the-us-is-just-beginning/267436/




A federal appeals court Tuesday told us all what we already knew about the classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 illegal drug on a par with heroin: Any change in national policy, any federal easing of restrictions upon the use of medical marijuana, must come from within the executive branch, and specifically from the Drug Enforcement Administration, which so far has been resolute in its rejection of the idea that science and medicine have conclusively established that marijuana helps treat some of the painful illnesses which afflict millions of us.

In Americans for Safe Access v. DEA, a 45-page mash note to the Administrative Procedures Act, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals offered up a ruling which is both illuminating and infuriating. It is illuminating because it reminds us of how much deference Congress requires federal judges to give to administrative agencies when those agencies reach conclusions about issues within their areas of expertise. It is infuriating because it reminds us of how hard it is to change from below, from the people, the momentum of the vast federal bureaucracy.

At its heart, though, the ruling cements into place the image of the federal government's position on pot as something akin to a large boulder in the middle of a raging stream. It has been 40 years since the DEA concluded that that marijuana "has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States." Since then, 18 states and the District of Columbia -- one third of all such jurisdictions -- have legalized the use of medical marijuana while two states, Colorado and Washington, have legalized the recreational use of marijuana.

[Bluenorthwest]

1. See, States are in charge of who gets basic human rights like marriage, but they are not allowed

to make any other sort of laws. State's Rights are limited to being anti gay.