The Supremacy Clause, Medical Marijuana, and Marijuana Dispensaries: Will We See Marijuana Bankruptcy Cases After the DEA has Spoken?

Here in the United States we are part of an experiment in government that started about two hundred years ago.

We have a Constitution that many people think is a good thing.

We also have a Supremacy Clause in our Constitution. Think of it as a "I always get to win because I say so" clause.

Some states, Arizona included, have decided that they wanted to make marijuana available under controlled circumstances to individuals for medical uses, including those undergoing chemotherapy, which is pretty rough stuff.

And the Federal Government has not yet acted in connection with those "state-legal" medical dispensaries.

But the DEA has recently decreed that marijuana has no accepted medical uses.

Now, if I were an investor in a medical marijuana dispensary, that would make me nervous about federal enforcement, followed by bankruptcy.

Frankly, I'd just as soon the Feds made up their minds.

And I actually have a dog in this fight. I have a friend who does some lobbying (hey, if Jesus could be friends with tax collectors, that sets the standard, right?) for medical marijuana interests, and I have people close to me who have been through hell as a result of the side-effects of chemotherapy to treat aggressive cancer.

So I think that it's a good idea to let chemotherapy patients use marijuana to control nausea, and frankly anything else the poor patients need to control.

But he who lives longest sees the most; and maybe marijuana will be legalized, and maybe it won't. But leaving it in limbo seems to me to be a bad idea.

 

Comments

[Larry]

It will be 2 more years before you find this out. Obama has said that he will not prosecute. When the Feds jumped on a dispensary in Santa Cruz, the city council reconstituted itself as a dispensary on the front steps of city hall, held a press conference and gave some grass to Robert Anton Wilson. It was a moving experience.

[Joseph C. McDaniel]

Thanks, Larry! You always have your ear to the ground, and you know some fun facts!