Gonzalez Vs Raich Paper On Legalizing Marijuana

665 Words3 Pages

Fiona Montalvo
GOVT 2305
14 September 2016
Professor Nicholas Creel
Many American Citizens are abusing drugs on a daily basis, while others on a weekly or monthly basis. Many illegal drug businesses exist because of the federal government restricting marijuana with the Controlled Substances act(CSA). Abolishing the CSA will most likely create less drug abuse cases, cut down the number of illegal drug businesses, and create a healthier, legal form of economy. It will also benefit those with serious medical conditions that benefit from only medical marijuana after trying other forms of treatment. A Supreme Court case, Gonzalez vs. Raich, involves a consumer of medical marijuana who got it taken away from her. Bernie Sanders passed a bill attempting …show more content…

State laws can be abolished or destroyed at the national level, especially if state interfere with any federal laws. The reason most issues cannot be solved is because of the Controlled Substances Act(CSA), which prohibits the use of Marijuana and marks the Schedule 1 Drug illegal. It prohibits Marijuana specifically in medical cases which is an issue because it is the most effective treatment for some consumers (“Marijuana and the Controlled Substances Act” 2). For example, Gonzalez vs. Raich was a Supreme Court case that went against the use of Medical Marijuana. Angel Raich and Dianne Monson were a couple in California, where Medical Marijuana was authorized and protected under California law. Physicians and patients were to not be prosecuted according to the Compassionate use act under California Law. Angel Raich and Dianne Monson’s plants were seized by federal agents because of the federal Controlled Substances Act regardless of the benefits to Dianne’s medical conditions. (Gonzalez et al. 47-48). This case is a great example to present the federal government’s opinion toward medical marijuana, even though it helped Dianne Monson’s medical conditions more than any other treatment …show more content…

However, Bernie Sanders issued a bill “to limit the application of Federal laws to the distribution and consumption of marihuana, and for other purposes.”(congress.gov). The bill does not target medical marijuana directly. Thoroughly, Bernard Sanders wanted marijuana to be removed from the Schedule 1 Drugs list. A Schedule 1 drug has a high potential to be addictive and is labeled as dangerous. Bernie Sanders did not necessarily promote for medical marijuana to become legal but he wanted all forms of marijuana to become legalized which is a great example of a proposed bill to legalize marijuana which got no