The Fourth Wall
page 3
NICHOLAS PASTURA
On November 6, 2012,
Colorado and Washington
voters successfully legal-
ized marijuana in their
states. Initiative 502 in
Washington and Amend-
ment 64 in Colorado
passed with strong support,
with more people in Colo-
rado voting to pass Amend-
ment 64 than those who
voted for President Obama
(who won the state). Under
the new laws, adults 21 and
older will be able to legally
purchase and possess up to
an ounce of cannabis, and
under the Colorado law,
people will be able to pos-
sess and grow up to 6 can-
nabis plants. Allen St.
Pierre, executive director
of the National Organiza-
tion for the Reform of Ma-
rijuana Laws (NORML),
tions have forever changed
the playing field regarding
cannabis prohibition laws
in America (and probably
in large parts of the world,
t00).” Under Federal law,
though, marijuana still re-
mains completely illegal.
Will the passing of these
new laws usher in a new
form, or will the Federal
government intervene?
"The voters have spoken
and we have to respect
their will... This is a com-
plicated process, but we
intend to follow through.
That said, federal law still
says marijuana is an illegal
drug, so don't break out the
Cheetos or goldfish too
quickly," said Colorado
Gov. John Hickenlooper.
The Drug Enforcement Ad-
ministration (DEA) was
quick to comment on the
voting results in a press
statement. "The Drug En-
forcement Administration's
enforcement of the Con-
trolled Substances Act re-
mains unchanged," said the
DEA. "In enacting the
Controlled Substances Act,
Congress determined that
marijuana is a Schedule I
control[ed] substance. The
reviewing the ballot initia-
tives and we have no addi-
tional comment at this
time." The Colorado U.S.
Attorney’s Office also said
that it’s position on mariju-
ana remains “unchanged.”
According to University
of Denver law professor
Sam Kamin, "The federal
government could come in
and seize assets. They
could charge people crimi-
nally. They could. send
years. They have chosen,
so far, not to do that....The
federal government still
criminalizes a lot of that
behavior but has said it's
not interested in individual
users," said Kamin to
CBSNews.com.
The federal govern-
ment has been unkind to
medical marijuana opera-
California. Under the Bush
prosecution, and destruc-
tion of medical marijuana
vendors, were carried out.
Under the Obama admin-
istration these actions have
increased. Many fear the
same sort of government
action may be in store for
the legalization movement.
There is always the pos-
sibility, though, that de-
spite past trends, the feder-
al government may not in-
terfere. Art Way, the Colo-
rado senior drug policy
manager for the Drug Poli-
cy Alliance said, "We hope
they will allow Colorado
and Washington to be the
laboratories of democracy."
Even some lawmakers are
hoping to keep the federal
government out of it, urg-
ing the federal government
Led by Rep. Diana De-
Gette, D-Colo., a group of
congressmen have intro-
duced the “Respect States'
and Citizens' Rights Act."
This bill is aimed at
amending the Controlled
Substance Act, to keep
state marijuana law safe
ment. Also, multiple other
congressmen sent a letter to
the Justice Department and
Drug Enforcement Agency,
asking them to respect citi-
zens who follow state laws.
Almost half of all states
have made moves to legal-
ize marijuana to some de-
gree. Rhode Island and
Maine may be taking up
the issue of legalization in
2013. It seems that the Fed-
eral Government will soon
have to take a formal
stance on states’ marijuana
on the way it is,” said Ka-
min. “It can't be a big in-
dustry and a Federal crime
at the same time.” Will the
up for democracy? Will
they adopt a more sensible
approach to an issue that
the War on Drugs has
failed miserably to address,
or will we just get more of
the same? Watching the
answer to these questions
unfold over the following
months and years will be
fascinating, and make no
mistake, it won’t be only
the American public, but
the entire world that is
watching.