cannabisnews.com: Federal Lawyer Likens Pot Law To Civil Rights Federal Lawyer Likens Pot Law To Civil Rights Posted by CN Staff on August 10, 2003 at 09:31:12 PT By Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer Source: San Francisco Chronicle The Bush administration's top lawyer on medical marijuana told a lawyers' convention Saturday that if California were allowed to defy federal drug laws, other states could ignore federal civil rights laws. Speaking at a panel of the American Bar Association's annual convention in San Francisco, Justice Department senior trial counsel Mark Quinlivan said states-rights arguments being advanced on behalf of California marijuana providers and patients were comparable to legal arguments made in the past by Southern segregationists. States can't selectively assert their independence from the federal government on national issues, Quinlivan said. "You cannot cherry-pick your federalism," he said. If a California initiative to legalize medical marijuana can override the federal government's ban on marijuana, he said, then anything goes. Lawyers representing medical marijuana clubs and the state said Quinlivan picked the wrong example. Civil rights laws upheld by the Supreme Court were based on the constitutional guarantee of equality and on interstate commerce, said Gerald Uelmen, a Santa Clara University law professor. Uelmen represented pot cooperatives in a 2001 Supreme Court case and is the lawyer in three pending federal cases. He contended the use of California-grown marijuana for medical purposes has no effect on interstate commerce and is thus beyond the scope of federal authority -- a central issue in the current cases. There is also a moral distinction, argued Taylor Carey, a special assistant state attorney general who wrote California's arguments challenging federal drug enforcement against medical marijuana clubs. "When the government acted to protect the civil liberties of the children of Alabama, they acted with the highest degree of moral force," Carey said. "When they act to prevent critically ill people from obtaining medication . . . they are not acting with the same degree of moral propriety." Snipped: Complete Article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/08/10/BA203958.DTL Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)Author: Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff WriterPublished: Sunday, August 10, 2003 Copyright: 2003 San Francisco Chronicle - Page A - 25 Contact: letters sfchronicle.comWebsite: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/Related Articles & Web Site:WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/Medical Pot Gets Its Day in Court http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16978.shtmlJudge Seeks Help From Pot Advocates http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16779.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #8 posted by afterburner on August 10, 2003 at 13:34:20 PT: Good One, Arthropod ; [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by FoM on August 10, 2003 at 12:04:23 PT i420 Here you go! I don't know how long they keep the link but hopefully for a while.http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread17038.shtml [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by i420 on August 10, 2003 at 11:34:45 PT FoM FoM please post lou's article I am sure many of us would like to comment on his writing. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by CorvallisEric on August 10, 2003 at 11:27:43 PT NY Daily News column - comment #2 Notice that the author is Lou Dobbs. I guess his views should have been obvious enough from the CNN series last week.A little into the snipped part: Pete Wilson, former governor of California, is a strong opponent of drug legalization. Wilson said the problem that advocates of legalization fail to acknowledge is that drugs are addictive and, therefore, not just another commodity. "Drugs did not become viewed as bad because they are illegal," Wilson said. "Rather, they became illegal because they are clearly bad."This concerns me because Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign is being run mostly by Pete Wilson's people. Wilson, like Arnold, was considered "liberal" on social issues like abortion. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Virgil on August 10, 2003 at 11:17:44 PT Good goverance requires The Bush administration's top lawyer on medical marijuana told a lawyers' convention Saturday that if California were allowed to defy federal drug laws, other states could ignore federal civil rights laws.Good governance requires recognition of MMJ.Good governance requires recognition of civil rights.Now look how the corruption has twisted the words of our paid public servants. Make that plutocratic servants. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Virgil on August 10, 2003 at 11:00:26 PT Apples and oranges The Bush administration's top lawyer on medical marijuana told a lawyers' convention Saturday that if California were allowed to defy federal drug laws, other states could ignore federal civil rights laws. Apples and oranges have seeds and peels in common but are two different things. Violation of the 10th Amendment and the Schedule One Lie that corrupts the issue is completely different than inalienable rights. The issues have the common seed of the Constitution that was made to enumerate federal powers with one saying our rights are violated and the other saying the government should respect our rights. It might be better to say it is like night and day than to say it is an apples/oranges situation.I call corruption. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on August 10, 2003 at 10:26:23 PT News Article from Snipped Source Why Legalizing Drugs is Dopey Idea We've spent hundreds of billions of dollars in law enforcement, prevention and treatment since former President Richard Nixon declared war on drugs in 1971. Yet the use of illicit substances continues to plague our country.The federal government spends nearly $1 billion a month on this war, but users spend more than five times that much to buy drugs.Beyond the horrific human toll of 20,000 drug-induced deaths each year, illegal drugs cost our economy more than $280 billion annually, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.Incredibly, there are those who choose to ignore drugs' human devastation and economic cost. Many of them are pseudo-sophisticate baby boomers who consider themselves superior and hip in their wry, reckless disregard of the facts.They also may smoke marijuana, advocate its legalization and rationalize cocaine as what they call a recreational drug.And there is a surprising list of libertarians and conservatives, including William Buckley and Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman, who also advocate the legalization of drugs.Another Nobel laureate, Gary Becker, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, told me, "It would certainly save a lot of resources for society. We could tax drug use so it could even lead to government revenue."He also said, "We would be able to greatly cut the number of people in prison, which would save resources for state and local government." Snipped: Complete Article: http://www.nydailynews.com/business/story/107792p-97441c.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Arthropod on August 10, 2003 at 10:10:29 PT: Kinda funny ain't it... That the Federal govt. would use this argument. Back in Civil War times, the govt. was acting to free slaves. Now, they use the same argument to create slaves. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment