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Risky Business? The Trump Administration And The State-Licensed Marijuana Industry, Robert A. Mikos
Risky Business? The Trump Administration And The State-Licensed Marijuana Industry, Robert A. Mikos
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
While it is clear that the new attorney general opposes state marijuana reforms, it is less clear what he will or even could do to block those reforms or to curb the industry that has flourished under them. The popularity of reforms, limits on federal resources, and legal doctrines like the anticommandeering rule all limit the DOJ’s ability to shut down the state-licensed marijuana industry. While Jeff Sessions may never embrace reforms, he may choose to pursue other tactics, like anti-marijuana media campaigns, to curb the use of marijuana and the harms caused thereby. Only time will tell, of course, …
Marijuana Localism, Robert A. Mikos
Marijuana Localism, Robert A. Mikos
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The states have wrested control of marijuana policy from the federal government, but they risk losing some of their newfound power to another player: local governments. Hundreds of local communities are now seeking to establish their own marijuana policies, from legalization to prohibition and a variety of idiosyncratic regulatory schemes in between. These local efforts raise one of the most important and unresolved questions surrounding marijuana law and policy: What authority, if any, should states give local governments to regulate marijuana? This Article provides some guidance on this question. It starts by identifying two competing considerations that help determine whether …
On The Limits Of Supremacy: Medical Marijuana And The States' Overlooked Power To Legalize Federal Crime, Robert A. Mikos
On The Limits Of Supremacy: Medical Marijuana And The States' Overlooked Power To Legalize Federal Crime, Robert A. Mikos
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Using the conflict over medical marijuana as a timely case study, this Article explores the overlooked and underappreciated power of states to legalize conduct Congress bans. Though Congress has banned marijuana outright, and though that ban has survived constitutional scrutiny, state laws legalizing medical use of marijuana constitute the de facto governing law in thirteen states. This Article argues that these state laws and (most) related regulations have not been, and, more interestingly, cannot be preempted by Congress, given constraints imposed on Congress's preemption power by the anti-commandeering rule, properly understood. Just as importantly, these state laws matter, in a …