{"id":54602,"date":"2022-05-05T04:38:40","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T12:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/05\/05\/draft-scotus-abortion-ruling-argues-that-letting-roe-stand-could-lead-to-drug-legalization\/"},"modified":"2022-05-05T05:45:25","modified_gmt":"2022-05-05T13:45:25","slug":"draft-scotus-abortion-ruling-argues-that-letting-roe-stand-could-lead-to-drug-legalization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/05\/05\/draft-scotus-abortion-ruling-argues-that-letting-roe-stand-could-lead-to-drug-legalization\/","title":{"rendered":"Draft SCOTUS Abortion Ruling Argues That Letting Roe Stand Could Lead To Drug Legalization"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

A controversial draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court concerning abortion rights seems to argue in a little-noticed passage that the constitutional justification for Roe v. Wade<\/em> is so broad that it could theoretically be interpreted in a way that invalidates drug criminalization.<\/p>\n

While the draft majority opinion that was leaked this week has not been formally submitted and could be subject to changes before it is finalized, Associate Justice Samuel Alito\u2019s argument in favor of overturning the half-century-old precedent on abortion rights also briefly touched on drug policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese attempts to justify abortion through appeals to a broader right to autonomy and to define one\u2019s \u2018concept of existence\u2019 prove too much,\u201d the opinion states. \u201cThose criteria, at a high level of generality, could license fundamental rights to illicit drug use, prostitution, and the like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of these rights has any claim to being deeply rooted in history,\u201d Alito wrote<\/a> in the draft, which was first revealed by Politico.<\/p>\n

What the justice seems to be saying is that, if Roe v. Wade<\/em> were to stand, it could invite further legal challenges over issues where government policy is seen as interfering with the autonomy of individuals, potentially rendering it unconstitutional to prohibit people from using illicit drugs, for example.<\/p>\n

Alex Kreit, a legal expert who specializes in drug policy and teaches at Northern Kentucky University, told Marijuana Moment that the argument isn\u2019t without precedent, though it hasn\u2019t had much success in the courts to date.<\/p>\n

People \u201chave made the argument that there is a fundament right to use drugs,\u201d Kreit said, but he doesn\u2019t believe that \u201cany have had any promise outside of the context of medical uses.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been instances where courts have been faced with challenges concerning the right of patient to use currently prohibited substances like marijuana (cases that have not been successful to date), but what\u2019s unique about the Alito interpretation is that he\u2019s making a more nuanced point about the concept of autonomy under the Constitution.<\/p>\n

Douglas Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University, told Marijuana Moment that he has \u201clong thought there could be potent arguments for constitutionally protected rights to use a drug for health need if there are no externalities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch arguments have never gotten any traction in courts, but I agree with the notion that taking privacy\/autonomy rights serious could get you there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Berman cited a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court case as a close example of how the judiciary could approach the intersection of privacy and drug policy. In that case, the court determined that personal possession of small amounts of cannabis by adults in their own homes is protected under the state Constitution.<\/p>\n

There was a separate challenge that reached the U.S. Supreme Court concerning California\u2019s medical cannabis program and the rights of patients to grow and use their own marijuana despite federal prohibition, but that case focused on the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, rather than the notion of personal autonomy.<\/p>\n

Of course, the draft opinion in the current abortion case is not specifically about drug policy, nor is it immediately clear what kind of implications Alito\u2019s short aside on the issue might have for future challenges.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the opinion\u2014if it\u2019s ultimately ruled on with that language intact\u2014does raise questions about how the autonomy debate could play out with respect to federal drug criminalization.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is separately being asked to weigh in on whether\u00a0federal law protects employers who choose not to cover medical marijuana costs for workers injured on the job, even in states that seek to require it. State courts have reached different conclusions on the question, but now the nation\u2019s top court is asking the top Justice Department lawyer<\/a> to weigh in.<\/p>\n

Empire State NORML and two other groups\u2014the New York City Cannabis Industry Association and the Hudson Valley Cannabis Industry Association\u2014submitted amici curiae briefs\u00a0urging the court to hear the case<\/a>\u00a0in December.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, even one of the most conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices, Clarence Thomas, denounced the federal government\u2019s inconsistent approach<\/a>\u00a0to marijuana policy last year, and he suggested that outright national prohibition may actually be unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

At the time, the court declined to take up a case related to an Internal Revenue Service investigation into tax deductions claimed by a Colorado marijuana dispensary. But Thomas issued a statement that more broadly addressed the federal-state marijuana disconnect.<\/p>\n

In 2020, justices declined to hear a case\u00a0challenging the constitutionality of federal marijuana prohibition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

South Carolina Medical Marijuana Bill Dies On House Floor Following Procedural Challenge<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Photo elements courtesy of rawpixel<\/a> and Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Draft SCOTUS Abortion Ruling Argues That Letting Roe Stand Could Lead To Drug Legalization<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Draft SCOTUS Abortion Ruling Argues That Letting Roe Stand Could Lead To Drug Legalization<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A controversial draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court concerning abortion rights seems to argue in a little-noticed passage that the constitutional justification for Roe v. Wade is so broad that it could theoretically be interpreted in a way that invalidates drug criminalization. While the draft majority opinion that wasContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54602"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54602"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54603,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54602\/revisions\/54603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}