Jan 062013
 

On the December 17 meeting, the Council discussed a topic studied in every US Government class- federalism. Federalism deals with the relationship between the national, federal government and local state governments. Often times, there is conflict between the two forms of government. One such example of this came with the passage of Amendment 64 in the 2012 election in Colorado, or the Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol Act, which makes up to 1 oz of marijuana legal in Colorado.

As a Greenwood Village police officer, or council member, which Constitution are they held to- The US Constitution or the Colorado Constitution? Amendment 64 further complicates matter because possession is legal, however selling and purchasing are not legal. Therefore, once again, citizens and police officers are pulled in opposite directions. I do not agree with Amendment 64, simply because its unintended consequence of pitting the two forms of government against each other far outweighs the benefits. However, as the Council also discussed, there really are only two solutions: Wait for marijuana to be taken off of the Controlled Substances Act, thereby becoming legal federally, or to wait for the federal Justice Department to sue the state of Colorado for violating federal law. Both processes will be messy.  However, marijuana remains illegal federally under the Controlled Substances Act. Therefore, the council debated what Greenwood Village police officers should do. This spirited, fascinating debate brought up several key, at times unanswerable questions: Does state law trump national law? Is national law supreme? The constitution argues both ways- Federal law rules in the Supremacy Clause whereas State law rules in the Tenth Amendment.

  •  Posted by on January 6, 2013 at 6:58 pm
  •   Comments Off on December 17 Meeting

Asha Banerjee

Hello! My name is Asha Banerjee and I am a senior at Cherry Creek High School. I am extremely involved with current events. I am a debate captain this year and last year was president of the Model United Nations club. I was born and raised in Colorado but have spent every summer and winter in India, visiting family. Outside of school, I love reading and watching movies. After studying international government for so long, I am very excited and curious about local municipal government.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.