When I was younger I remember hearing the expression "You don't have to make a federal issue out of it," meaning of course that they were making a bigger deal out of something than it really was.
This week the Supreme Court thinks that if your Doctor wishes to prescribe marijuana to treat chronic pain, then that is a federal issue.
A handful of states (including my own) have adopted laws allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana for medical purposes. In many of these states the issue has gone before the people and approved at the ballot box. Even though each state has their own laws on the drug, the Supreme Court now says that these state laws offer no protection because marijuana is a federally banned substance.
Consider for a moment that banning alcohol required a constitutional amendment. To end prohibition they once again had to amend the constitution to repeal the former amendment. All this fuss to just ban a substance. But now we have banned marijuana without the need for such fuss and now a doctor is not even allowed to prescribe it if they believe that the substance has some medical benefit. Even after the people have voted to legalize it for medical use, their wishes are ignored because of a federal ban imposed by a few.
You can argue all day long about how or if the drug should be prescribed, but I dare you to show me where the constitutional authority comes from to ban it completely. These types of court decisions come from bad law and from the worst kind judicial activism.
...and I thought Republicans hated judicial activism...not when it's their judges.
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