Pubdate: Thu, 12 Sep 2013
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Gene Brady
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n455/a04.html

FEDERALISM, THE CONSTITUTION AND A DOJ BLOWING SMOKE

If the president wants to decriminalize marijuana, he should push 
Congress to change the law.

Maybe the Journal's editors need to smoke whatever they must be 
smoking in the White House and chill out a bit about the Obama 
administration's disregard for federal drug laws ("The Beltway Choom 
Gang," Review & Outlook, Sept. 5). Laws passed by Congress, unlike 
the president's red lines in the sand, are malleable, and the 
supremacy of federal versus state law is a matter of political 
context. Blue-state laws typically pass muster, while red-state laws 
(addressing voter ID, immigration enforcement, school choice, etc.) 
are attacked by the Justice Department.

If the president wants to decriminalize marijuana, the proper 
democratic process, as the editors indicate, is to push Congress to 
change the law. Ignoring laws or negating parts of laws by 
presidential decree undermines trust in our system of governance and 
respect for the rule of law. Does it really matter anymore?

Gene Brady

Lutherville, Md.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom