In what could be a blow to states’ rights Colorado voters face having their will nullified by two bible thumper infested neighbor states as well as the meddlesome federal government. In a lawsuit filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday – States of Nebraska and Oklahoma v. State of Colorado – the border states are seeking to overturn the amendment making marijuana legal. Not all voters were a mile high when the first pot stores threw open their doors for business on January 1, 2014 and the hardened culture warriors are fighting back in the biggest clash between states since the breakup of the old Big Eight. Not to be insensitive towards the sincere beliefs of others but it is the very bedrock fundamental of a democracy that people are able to make their choices at the ballot box and the majority wins. I get it that it sucks when you lose but once the votes have been cast the losers have somewhat of an obligation to fuck off and go away.
Outside of Denver metro area, the state is a crazy quilt of hard core religious fundamentalism, old school western style conservatism and free-spirited libertarianism and it was inevitable that there would be a backlash over the legalizing of pot. What is troubling though is the interference of other states in what should solely be the business of Colorado residents. As reported by The Denver Post in a story entitled “Nebraska and Oklahoma sue Colorado over marijuana legalization”:
In the most serious legal challenge to date against Colorado's legalization of marijuana, two neighboring states have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the history-making law.
Nebraska and Oklahoma filed the lawsuit directly with the nation's highest court on Thursday. The two states argue in the lawsuit that, "the State of Colorado has created a dangerous gap in the federal drug control system."
"Marijuana flows from this gap into neighboring states, undermining Plaintiff States' own marijuana bans, draining their treasuries, and placing stress on their criminal justice systems," the lawsuit alleges.
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said in a statement that he will defend the state's legalization of marijuana, saying that the lawsuit is, "without merit."
"Because neighboring states have expressed concern about Colorado-grown marijuana coming into their states, we are not entirely surprised by this action," Suthers said. "However, it appears the plaintiffs' primary grievance stems from non-enforcement of federal laws regarding marijuana, as opposed to choices made by the voters of Colorado."
Colorado voters in 2012 passed Amendment 64, which legalized use and limited possession of marijuana by anyone over 21. The new law, tied for the first in the nation to widely legalize marijuana at the state level, came after more than a decade of legal use and possession of marijuana in Colorado for certain medical purposes.
Stores able to sell up to an ounce of marijuana to any adult with a Colorado I.D. — or a quarter ounce to any adult with an out-of-state I.D. — opened on Jan. 1 this year. So far, recreational marijuana stores in Colorado have made more than $300 million in sales in 2014. The lawsuit does not target Colorado's separate medical marijuana system, where registered patients must be Colorado residents.
Nebraska and Oklahoma's complaint argues that Colorado does not have authority to pass laws that conflict with the federal prohibition on marijuana. Doing so, the states claim, violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
One could suspect that this move has much less to do with interstate drug trafficking than a desire to impose a narrow-minded moral judgment upon others. If Coloradans wanted to be subjected to the whims of entrenched culture warriors in Nebraska and Oklahoma they would move there. It is the same type of sneering contempt exhibited by Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber in his denouncing of Americans as too stupid to know what is for their own good. Whether that is entirely the case is up for debate but in fragmented late 2014 America cultural disputes bleed over into damned near everything as they have for decades. Perhaps there is even some degree of petty jealousy involved when considering that taxing marijuana sales has provided Colorado with a badly needed infusion of revenue.
The feds will wholeheartedly throw in with Nebraska and Oklahoma given the level of systemic corruption and cash that is at stake in a government long ago gone to seed. The legalizing of the devil weed is a threat to the ongoing ripoff that is the civil liberties destroying war on drugs as well as all of the state sanctioned looting enabled by drug-related asset confiscation programs. This is why police unions have fought tooth, fang and nail against eliminating the prohibition on pot. Other stakeholders in the war on letting people do whatever the hell that they damned well please – which is what a “free” country should practice – are the pharmaceutical and alcohol lobbies. The liberty-haters in Washington will gladly enlist the help of put-upon conservative populists to protect their sacred cash cows and keep the war on drugs as well as keeping the for-profit prison gulags stocked with warm bodies.
Marijuana is no more dangerous than what you can pick up legally for $10 or less down at your local liquor store. Alcohol is by far the most socially damaging drug and it is widely available – even in states like Nebraska and Oklahoma with their ridiculous blue laws - yet it is a multi-billion dollar a year industry.
It all stinks of hypocrisy just like everything else in Obamastan.
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