Frontline: the Pot Republic

There is currently controversy between the state and federal governments regarding the legalization of medicinal marijuana. On the federal level all use or possession of marijuana is illegal, but in California, laws have recently been passed at the state level that allows the herb to be grown and distributed for medicinal purposes only. In order to avoid constant battles between the two I feel that the final decision on legalizing marijuana should be left up to the state level authorities. If the final say was left up to the state governments across the U.S. our federal government could focus its priorities on more important things, rather than trying to put people in jail for something that the citizens of California have voted for. It makes no sense at all that our country has different jurisdictions on their policies about marijuana. The fact that there are different jurisdictions in the U.S. causes more complications within the system. If California and other states went further and legalized recreational marijuana across the board several million dollars of revenue would be generated. Not only would the country benefit financially from the legalization of marijuana, but patients with numerous types of illnesses would be able to afford the widely preferred medication that the plant offers. I also strongly believe that the crime rate along with prison inmates would decrease greatly. If there was a national policy on the availability of marijuana then there would no longer be and conflict between the two governments and there would be much less confusion among citizens and small business owners such as medicinal growers and distributers. With that being the case it is my personal opinion that a national policy is a must in order to reduce the conflicts that are taking place. This example reveals that there are problems among our federal system. Local and state governments should not be able to have different policies than the national government because the only