Scalia: Federal Drug Laws Were a Mistake

[frigidmagi]

The Atlantic

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia isn't a supporter of legalizing drugs. But he does believe that passing federal laws against them has done harm to the U.S. government. "It was a great mistake to put routine drug offenses into the federal courts," he told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal went on to report Scalia's belief that the laws forced Congress to enlarge the federal court system, and diminished "the elite quality of the federal judiciary."

This isn't a new problem. Chief Justice William Rehnquist complained as far back as 1989 that the war on drugs was overwhelming the federal judiciary. In 1995, Kathleen F. Brickley, an academic, found that "the Federal system is strained to capacity due, in large part, to the government's war on drugs."

Said an nonpartisan immigration nonprofit last year, "Federal prosecutors along the Southwest border with Mexico -- many already strained by the rise in their immigration caseloads -- are facing a new challenge: how to handle a sharp jump in drug cases. Justice Department data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse show that during the first four months of FY 2010 drug cases in this region had surged by almost a third (30 percent) from what they were just 16 months ago and were up by 7 percent over levels at the end of FY 2009."

The federal War on Drugs is diminishing the quality of our federal justice system. As far as I can tell, no one contests that conclusion. It would be one thing to bear that cost in exchange for a policy victory. After decades of failure, however, no one even expects the drug war to be won.

Returning drug policy to the states would be a first step in the right direction

Should we drop federal drug laws and make it a state issue? Discuss.

[LadyTevar]

there have long been jokes about "WV's Cash Crop" being Marijuana....

More seriously, we have already seen Western states supplant Federal Laws with laws on Medical Marijuana use, so there are some states who have already made it a States Issue.

Would it work if each state made their own rules? Unknown, as right now a lot of Red states would throw holy fits over it, just as they are Abortion and Gay Marriage. I think it would be better overall if there was a Federal Mandate, personally.

[The Minx]

Since so much of the stuff is traded across state lines, I can't see how each state making their own drug laws is going to be helpful.

[Cynical Cat]

Since so much of the stuff is traded across state lines, I can't see how each state making their own drug laws is going to be helpful.

Sure it gets traded between states and internationally, but most busts are street level and local. That doesn't mean there can't be federal agencies involved in it (just about every form of law enforcement agency is involved in the war on drugs in one way or another) but it does mean your local drug dealers go to the same court system as your local burglars.