The Criminalization
of Marijuana
1. Negatively impacts the rights and Liberties outlined
by the Bill of Rights.
2. Negatively impacts State and Federal Powers.
Basic Citizen Rights
 Right to Privacy- implied in the Bill of
Rights
 Right to seek medical assistance (selfdetermination)
 Protection from illegal searches and
seizures (IV Amendemnt)
WHY USE MEDICAL
MARIJUANA?
 Treats 250 outlined conditions
Such as:
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Glaucoma
Nausea (due to chemotherapy and other
disorders)
Depression
Pain
Hyper sensativity
Multiple Sclerosis
Panic disorder
Bipolar disorder
Federal and State Power
Conflicting Acts:
1.Federal Controlled Substance Act (1970)
 Labels various drugs into 5 scheduals
 Marijuana labeled as a schedule I drug (no medical
purpose, highly addicting, highly dangerous)
2. State Compassionate Use Act (1996)
- Legalized medical marijuana (California, Nevada,
Arizona, Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon, etc)
Federal v. State Power
1.National Supremacy Clause ( Article I sec. 2)
- Federal Law is the “supreme law of the
land”
2. Reserved Powers Clause ( 10th Amendment to the
BOR)
- Powers no explicitly defined by the constitution
remains to the state and the individual citizen
This means that terminally or severely ill patients who use marijuana for medical
purposes can be prosecuted and incarcerated for 1 year to life.
Justification for
Legalization
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor
“the supreme court ruling against medical marijuana tramples on the central
tenant of the federalist system where as states may act as laboratories for
social experiments so long as it does not put other states at risk.”
In the Supreme Court Case of Gonzalez v. Raich, the court
neglected to prove that growing and consuming marijuana
within the state boarders harmed the national economy, or the
fact that congress has no right to regulate marijuana grown
and consumed within the state
-The court neglected to recognize the Compassionate Use Act
A terminally ill patient was therefore prosecuted for growing
and consuming marijuana for medical purposes.
Rights and Liberties
 The right to consume medication that is prescribed by
a physician (self determination.
 The right to ingest substances (self-determination)
 1st Amendment: a physician’s right to discuss
marijuana with patients
 The right to seek medical attention
 The right to privacy (Bill of Rights)- using medications
and consuming drugs is a purely personal matter (as
long as it doesn’t effects others and their rights).
 Unreasonable searched a seizures (4th Amendment)
- Supreme Court permits the issuance of search warrants based on anonymous tips from
corrupt and unreliable informants (Rancher in Ventura, California killed by SWAT team on a
false warrant of marijuana possession)
War on Drugs: Helping or
Hurting?
More people a year due to the war on drugs than die
from generically overdosing- Political Science Professor at
Princeton University
- enormous drug trade
- people die from drive by shootings and commercial territorial competition
- Addicts robbing and killing people
Prohibition is a major source of crime- Kurt Schmoke
former mayor of Baltimore
- Inflates drugs prices
- Increasing criminal rate due to drug traffickers
- Reduces # of police officers to investigate violent crime
- Fosters altered and poisonous drugs
-Enriches drug traffickers and corruption
- Layers
- Judges
- Cops
- Politicians
- Businessmen
Statistics
 10,000 additional homicides a year due
to the war on drugs
 $15 billion tax payers dollars spent on the
war on drugs (IT IS NOT WORKING)
 Incarceration rate has increased 10 fold
since the war on drugs
War on drugs failure…Now
what?
 For every one dollar spent on the treatment
of an addict reduces the probability of
continued addiction seven times more than
incarceration – Wm. F. Buckley Jr
author of War on Drugs Lost
 America’s drug problem is not a criminal issue, it is a health issue!