Should I race across state lines with
a bag of weed in the car?
With the passage of two states Colorado and Washington in
the last election cycle to allow for recreational uses of marijuana without a
prescription or medical excuse which is in violation of Federal Law. With
states like California and Montana voting for medical marijuana but fearing a
fight with federal law officials even with this baby step it seems that laws
are becoming even more arbitrary by the day.
It does seem that the will of the people if we go by media
coverage, mainstream pot portrayal/acceptance in movies and music, simple
demand for the product, etc. that a significant amount of US citizens accept
that recreationally using the drug is ethically, morally and legally right.
In short, public opinion has turned in this country, not
that you can get a majority on any issue in this country, but that more
Americans view Marijuana usage on a par with adult alcohol consumption
recreationally.
Do Laws have a shelf life?
It isn`t just marijuana as states have recently been voting
for state online gambling whether it be New Jersey, Las Vegas or other states
like Virginia that seek increased tax revenue from these activities. With the
advent of the internet and its capabilities often clashing with archaic laws
and regulations written well before modern technological and civilization advancements
in this area.
It just seems that Federal authorities, legal scholars, and
the Supreme Court need to take a hard look at some of the arbitrariness of
these old and ancient laws that don`t really fit nicely with current legal
interpretations of the internet and modern society.
The DOJ seemed to back off somewhat from some of their
initial hardline stance regarding online poker in settling with Full Tilt and Poker
Stars in the classification of their wrongdoing. But it remains to be seen if Online
Poker in this country is a violation of federal law if the case was ever taken
to the Supreme Court.
A Good Precedent to have open Violation
of Federal Law?
But how can you have states practicing activities which are
in direct violation of federal law on one hand, and not go after them, but on
the other hand go hard after poker players playing online in a virtual world
with no state or country boundaries, when gaming has been legal and is legal in
several states to varying degrees like New Jersey, Louisiana, Mississippi, and
Nevada? The current government stance on Marijuana and Online/Casino Gaming is
making their position from a legal standpoint look completely arbitrary and
lacking in credibility.
The slippery slope of the “Arbitrariness
Path”
The real problem with this approach is that once a
government goes down the “Arbitrariness Path” the unintended consequences are
that other more conventionally and socially accepted laws start to lose their
credibility and become just as arbitrary. It is one slippery slope that the
United States is on right now if we throw into the mix the constitutionality of
Obama Care, Gun Control, and various Taxing Mechanisms.
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