Pot and Political Power: How the War on Drugs is Limiting Federalism (2009)

Undergraduate: Carlyle McCoy

Faculty Advisor: Katie Pryal
Department: Political Science

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The federal government’s fight to monitor controlled substances, such as marijuana, threatens the balance of state and federal powers within the United States government. In Gonzales v. Raich (2005), the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down states’ ability to legalize medical marijuana using the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Many legal scholars and professionals agree that by invalidating the California law using the Controlled Substances Act, the U.S. Supreme Court created an unconstitutional balance of power between the federal and state systems. In this paper, I argue that the Court’s ruling in Raich has allowed Congress to infringe on states’ constitutional powers through regulation of state decisions and legislative enactments. First, I examine the federalism cases leading up to Raich and explore the governmental and social conflicts involving medical marijuana. Next, I observe how the Court mishandled the facts of the case and the wording of the U.S. Constitution in its decision. Finally, I discuss the benefits of a decentralized federalism and what the Court can do to bring a balance back to our system of government. The United States is a country founded on diversity and the right of citizens to express their differences. Yet, the federal government’s “War on Drugs” has put this freedom in jeopardy, threatening all that our country was created for.