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Federalism is a system of government in which entities such as states or provinces share power with a national government.

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How did the use of recreational marijuana become an issue of Federalism?

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How did the use of recreational marijuana become an issue of Federalism?

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The use of recreational marijuana became an issue of federalism because under federal law it is considered a violation. It does not matter if in a state it is legalized.Because of that banks cant service marijuana businesses. In doing so it may be a consider a crime.

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What are the main points for this to remain a state issue? a federal issue? 

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What are the main points for this to remain a state issue? a federal issue? 

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Most of the Americans  oppose federal action against state legal marijuana operations, according to the HuffPost/YouGovPoll. A majority of the public, 56 percent, say they’d oppose federal efforts to stop the sale and use of marijuana in states where it’s been legalized, with 44 percent expressing strong opposition, the survey found. Just 30 percent of Americans would support such action, while another 14 percent said they were not sure.

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Analysis- What side of the argument do you most agree with? Defend your argument with facts from your research.

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Analysis- What side of the argument do you most agree with? Defend your argument with facts from your research.

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I agree that recreational marijuana should be a state issue than it being a federal issue. I believe at the end of the day the states should have the power to decide if they want to legalized recreational marijuana or not.

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions has rescinded an Obama administration policy that blocked U.S. attorneys from prosecuting marijuana cases in states where the drug is legal. He announced Thursday that he is instead leaving it up to federal prosecutors to use their discretion in determining whether to enforce the federal law banning the sale and use of the drug.

It's not clear what the full effect of this new policy will be. But it suggests the Justice Department may be planning to strongly enforce federal drug laws against the budding marijuana industry.

Regardless of one's views on marijuana, or drug use in general, this is an unfortunate move by the federal government. There are many issues which, by their nature, are federal issues. Punishment for drug use is not. In general, states should be allowed to police themselves.

America is an experiment in federalism, and the states represent 50 laboratories where we can try out different laws and lifestyles. It's a chance for citizens to vote their preferences without forcing other states to go along. It's a chance to see what works and what doesn't.

And, hopefully, if something does work, it's a chance for the idea to spread.

For decades now there has been a movement to decriminalize marijuana. In recent years, it's picked up steam, and there seems to be a general shift in public views on cannabis. Attorney General Sessions may not agree with this shift, but he should at least recognize it represents the beliefs of his fellow citizens.

Washington, D.C., and eight states - Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon and Washington - have legalized recreational marijuana. Another 29 states allow for its medical use. These numbers seem likely to increase.

The people have spoken. They should not be overruled by the Justice Department. As Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado put it, Sessions' decision "has trampled on the will of the voters."

Gardner went further, noting that President Trump has said legalization should be up to the states. Gardner also said that before he "voted to confirm Attorney General Sessions, he assured me that marijuana would not be a priority for this administration."

In general, both President Trump and Sessions have seemed to be on the side of states' rights. Reversing the Obama administration policy against prosecutions suggests that stance is more a matter of convenience.

I don't smoke marijuana and don't recommend others do. But I've had friends who use it, and I believe it should be their decision. The idea that such people might be up on federal charges is dismaying.

It's not as if the Justice Department lacks for things to do. There are many urgent issues it needs to deal with - border problems, terrorism, and civil rights, to name a few.

So it's sad to see the department fighting the tide of public sentiment and the will of citizens over what should be a state decision. It isn't worthy of the department.

Perhaps legalizing marijuana is a horrible idea. Maybe the states will regret what they've done. But if they do, let them change their ways based on the voters' preferences, not the preferences of the U.S. attorney general.

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Should pot be legal? Let states decide that question, not the federal government

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions has rescinded an Obama administration policy that blocked U.S. attorneys from prosecuting marijuana cases in states where the drug is legal. He announced Thursday that he is instead leaving it up to federal prosecutors to use their discretion in determining whether to enforce the federal law banning the sale and use of the drug.

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Last week White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer predicted "greater enforcement" of the federal ban on marijuana in the eight states that have legalized the drug for recreational use. This week Attorney General Jeff Sessions, an old-fashioned drug warrior who thinks "good people don't smoke marijuana," seemed to confirm Spicer's warning, telling reporters, "We're going to look at it...and try to adopt responsible policies."

If those "responsible policies" involve legal action aimed at shutting down state-licensed marijuana businesses, they will be contrary to public opinion, President Trump's campaign promises, and Sessions' own avowed support for federalism. As most Republicans seem to recognize, attempts to force marijuana prohibition on states that have opted out of it are inconsistent with the decentralized system of government established by the Constitution.

According to a recent Quinnipiac University survey, 59 percent of Americans think marijuana "should be made legal in the United States," while 71 percent "oppose the government enforcing federal laws against marijuana in states that have already legalized medical or recreational marijuana." Among Republicans, only 35 percent favored legalization, but 55 percent opposed federal interference with it.

Last April a CBS News poll found even stronger Republican opposition to federal meddling. Asked if "laws regarding whether the use of marijuana is legal" should be "determined by the federal government" or "left to each individual state government to decide," 70 percent of Republicans said the latter, compared to 55 percent of Democrats (who as usual were more likely to favor legalization). These results suggest many conservatives, whatever they think of marijuana, take seriously their commitment to federalism, which Trump also claims to support.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2015, Trump said he favored medical marijuana but had concerns about broader legalization, a decision he nevertheless said should be left to the states. "In terms of marijuana and legalization," he said at a 2015 rally in Nevada, "I think that should be a state issue, state by state."

Sessions, a former Alabama senator, also claims to believe in federalism. After the death of William Rehnquist in 2005, Sessions gave a floor speech in which he praised the chief justice for "reestablish[ing] a respect for state law and state sovereignty." Sessions noted that the federal government, under its authority to regulate interstate commerce, "has broad power, but there are limits to the reach of the Commerce Clause."

When it comes to marijuana, however, Sessions has little patience for those limits. "It does remain a violation of federal law to distribute marijuana throughout any place in the United States," he observed on Monday, "whether a state legalizes it or not."

In 2005 the Supreme Court upheld continued enforcement of the federal ban on marijuana in states that have legalized the drug. But the Court did so based on a very broad reading of the Commerce Clause-the sort of interpretation that usually irks conservative constitutionalists.

The case involved homegrown marijuana used by patients in states that recognize the plant as a medicine. "If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause," observed dissenting Justice Clarence Thomas, "then it can regulate virtually anything-and the Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers."

In relying on an understanding of the Commerce Clause that lets Congress do pretty much whatever it wants, Sessions outdoes one of the most famous anti-marijuana crusaders in U.S. history. Harry Anslinger, head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics from 1930 to 1962, pushed states to ban marijuana by claiming the plant turned people into rapists and murderers.

But even Anslinger did not go so far as to claim the federal government had the authority to impose marijuana prohibition on recalcitrant states. "There are no Federal laws on the growth or use of marijuana," The New York Times reported in 1931. "Mr. Anslinger said the government under the Constitution cannot dictate what may be grown within individual States."
© Copyright 2017 by Creators Syndicate Inc.

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Last week White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer predicted "greater enforcement" of the federal ban on marijuana in the eight states that have legalized the drug for recreational use. This week Attorney General Jeff Sessions, an old-fashioned drug warrior who thinks "good people don't smoke marijuana," seemed to confirm Spicer's warning, telling reporters, "We're going to look at it...and try to adopt responsible policies."

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Federalism is a system of government in which entities such as states or provinces share power with a national government. The United States government functions according to the principles of federalism.

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Most Americans oppose federal action against state-legal marijuana operations, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll conducted after the release of recent Justice Department guidance that gives U.S. government prosecutors the discretion to aggressively pursue such cases.

A majority of the public, 56 percent, say they'd oppose federal efforts to stop the sale and use of marijuana in states where it's been legalized, with 44 percent expressing strong opposition, the survey found. Just 30 percent of Americans would support such action, while another 14 percent said they were not sure.

On Thursday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a frequent critic of marijuana, rescinded a set of Obama-era memos that had effectively discouraged federal prosecutors from targeting cannabis operations that were in compliance with state law. A total of eight states have now legalized marijuana for recreational use.

Sessions replaced that policy with new guidance giving U.S. attorneys ― the chief federal prosecutors in each of the nation's 94 federal districts ― the go-ahead to enforce federal law, which still holds marijuana to be a Schedule I substance, alongside substances like heroin and LSD. It's not yet clear how U.S. attorneys will proceed under the new policy, but the HuffPost/YouGov survey suggests any targeting of state-legal cannabis would be unpopular and could carry significant political risks.

Critics quickly assailed the Sessions decision as a violation of President Donald Trump's campaign promise to respect states' rights on marijuana. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders appeared to make this shift official last week, when she said Trump now "strongly believes" federal law should be enforced when it comes to cannabis.

The poll, however, shows that the public is more likely to believe the issue should be left up to the states.A total of 47 percent of Americans believe laws governing the use of marijuana should be determined at the state level, while just 32 percent said they should be determined at the federal level. Another 22 percent said they were unsure.

That's long been the case. As far back as five years ago, a majority of Americans believed adults should be exempt from federal drug laws on marijuana as long as they were following state law, according to a 2012 YouGov survey.

The preference also holds across party lines. In the most recent poll, Democrats favor a state-centric approach over a federal one by an 18-point margin, Republicans by a 15-point margin and independents by a 13-point margin.

But it's also clear that there's still some confusion about the state-federal divide on marijuana. Although the GOP often portrays itself as the party of states' rights, Republican respondents were by far the most likely to express support for a federal crackdown on state-legal cannabis operations. More than half said they'd support such action, compared to less than a quarter of either Democrats or independents.

Overall, 55 percent of Americans back legalization of marijuana both nationally and in their own state.

Other recent surveys have found support topping the 60 percent mark. A record-high 64 percent majority of Americans, including slightly more than half of Republicans, backed legalization in Gallup's most recent tracking poll.
Use the widget below to further explore the results of the HuffPost/YouGov survey, using the menu at the top to select survey questions and the buttons at the bottom to filter the data by subgroups:

The HuffPost/YouGov poll consisted of 1,000 completed interviews conducted Jan. 5-6 among U.S. adults, using a sample selected from YouGov's opt-in online panel to match the demographics and other characteristics of the adult U.S. population. HuffPost has teamed up with YouGov to conduct daily opinion polls. Most surveys report a margin of error that represents some, but not all, potential survey errors. YouGov's reports include a model-based margin of error, which rests on a specific set of statistical assumptions about the selected sample rather than the standard methodology for random probability sampling. If these assumptions are wrong, the model-based margin of error may also be inaccurate. for a more detailed explanation of the model-based margin of error. You can learn more about this project and in YouGov's nationally representative opinion polling. More details on the polls' methodology are available .

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Most Americans Oppose Federal Crackdown On State-Legal Marijuana

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Most Americans oppose federal action against state-legal marijuana operations, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll conducted after the release of recent Justice Department guidance that gives U.S. government prosecutors the discretion to aggressively pursue such cases.