Shouldn’t Bush be getting the credit here for following through on his promise? A, sort of, last minute hurrah! to freedom lovers nationwide.

Let’s enjoy it while we can. Certainly Obama’s AG Eric Holder doesn’t hold out any promise of being a friend of liberty.

Carl Olsen
Iowans for Medical Marijuana
Post Office Box 4091
Des Moines, Iowa 50333-4091
515-288-5798
http://www.iowamedicalmarijuana.org/

The CSA contains no specific language stating that it was the intent of Congress to preempt state laws establishing accepted medical practice. On the contrary, the CSA actually contains language that says Congress did not intend to occupy the field of medicine traditionally regulated by the states. That field includes setting standards for use of drugs in that state. 21 U.S.C. § 903. See Gonzales v. Oregon, 546 U.S. 243 (2006).

In rejecting any attempt by the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA” hereafter) to define accepted state medical practice, the U.S. Supreme Court held: “The Government, in the end, maintains that the prescription requirement delegates to a single Executive officer the power to effect a radical shift of authority from the States to the Federal Government to define general standards of medical practice in every locality. The text and structure of the CSA show that Congress did not have this far-reaching intent to alter the federal-state balance and the congressional role in maintaining it.” Gonzales v. Oregon, 546 U.S. 243, 275 (2006)