BellaOnline Forums News and Politics Crime Marijuana Poll

There ws a short article in the crime blog on About.com about a man in Colorado, who, on a local television news station talked about growing marijuana for medical use, which is legal in Colorado under certain conditions.

The next day the DEA came to his home, captured about 200 plants and arrested the man. Should he have been arrested by the feds if state law says its okay for him to do what he did?

Please vote in my poll and discuss your feelings about it if you'd like to.

Should the government be allowed to override state law? single choice
	Yes, the feds should be allowed to override state law
	No, each individual state should be allowed to make their own laws
	I don't care either way
	Marijuana should be legal across the board
Votes accepted starting: 05/01/10 09:33 AM You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.

I voted that the feds should be able to override state law. If not, then what is stopping states from becoming independent sovereign nations like they tried to in the mid-1800's.

Now, I know it wouldn't get that far but that is just a for instance.

Please do not turn this into a debate about slavery or a new Civil War, please keep it to the topic in hand about medical marijuana and the feds vs. the states' laws regarding it.

Vance, This will probably be another catch and release deal. As you know drug trafficing puts food on the tables of every DEA and other depratments tables. The question is how long is Marajuana going to be classified as a drug. As soon as a substance is stigmatized as a drug, in many times the crime, such as death, injuries, and associations with crime start to pollute the area and unfortunatly law inforcement plays a more than a key role in germinating the crime. The answer is to take some lessons from some older nations where a substance, legal or not, does not create slums and guns and murder.

I agree with you one hundred percent on that, Professor.

I don't understand why marijuana is illegal while alcohol is legal. Just curious.

First of all, I never agreed with you on that over morning coffee. States are not sovereign nations and in my opinion, have no business making laws that do not coincide with federal laws.

You said growing marijuana was legal under certain conditions. Did the man meet the conditions? Did he need a permit or some other certification?

I copied a link to an article about the case here from the Huffington Post.

Lynne, apparently the man is cleared to use medical marijuana and is cleared to grow it but if you read the article you will see where the US Attorney General says that state laws do not override federal laws. There is even something in the article about the Obama Administration has relaxed federal prosecution guidelines for medical marijuana usage.

I don't understand this myself. If the Obama administration has loosened their guidelines for prosecution, does this man fall inside or outside of the guidelines?

Thanks vance. It is a strange case.

This is at best walking a thin line of following law and abuse of poitical/legal power.

I would rather be around Marijuana smokers then people drinking alcohol
It should be legal (Marijuana) I just worry about adults leaving the lollipops and other candy looking stuff you can buy in the dispensaries for the children to get a hold of.
Just saying