(Washington, D.C.) – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today criticized the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Ashcroft v. Raisch that allows federal authorities to prosecute sick people who smoke marijuana under doctors’ orders.  The decision overturns the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ December 2003 decision which declared that states have the right to regulate marijuana as a medical treatment. 

“The emphasis on marijuana is one of many wasteful and absurd policies of the ongoing war on drugs,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “The federal government’s adamant rejection of marijuana as a medical alternative costs taxpayers millions of dollars annually.” 

Patients suffering from illnesses such as AIDS, glaucoma, and multiple sclerosis use the drug for treatment in states where such use is permitted, even though any use of marijuana is prohibited at the federal level.  Since 1996, ten states have legalized medicinal marijuana.  Yet the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has opposed such actions on many occasions.  When states question the legality and cost of the agency’s interferences, ONDCP has adamantly refused to disclose any information, maintaining that meddling in state elections and arresting marijuana users is part of the overall war on drugs.  Approximately half of ONDCP’s fiscal 2005 budget of $507 million will be concentrated on reducing marijuana use.   

“The ONDCP campaigns against state ballot initiatives legalizing the use of medicinal marijuana are an infringement upon states’ rights, a blatant misuse of tax dollars, and in contravention of ONDCP’s original mission,” Schatz continued.    

The Supreme Court majority writes that Congress can regulate the growth and consumption of medical marijuana as “interstate commerce.”  However, in a dissenting opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas writes, “The Respondents . . . use marijuana that has never been bought or sold, that has never crossed state lines, and that has had no demonstrable effect on the national market for marijuana.  If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything—and the Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers.”

CAGW recently released an in-depth and unflattering probe into America’s drug policy.  Up in Smoke: ONDCP’s Wasted Efforts in the War on Drugs details the expensive drug control programs that have failed to produce meaningful results after 17 years.  Instead of curbing America’s drug problem, ONDCP has wasted $4.2 billion since fiscal 1997 on a propaganda-filled media campaign, fighting state legislation, and deficient anti-drug trafficking programs. 

“The White House’s drug office should use its resources to root out major drug operations in the U.S. instead of creating propaganda-filled news videos and flying across the country on the taxpayers’ dime pushing for states to vote no on marijuana initiatives,” Schatz continued.  “Unfortunately, the Court has handed the federal government a blank check to continue harassing and arresting patients who smoke marijuana for medicinal reasons.”

Up in Smoke: ONDCP’s Wasted Efforts in the War on Drugs is available at www.cagw.org. 

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.