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Opening Arguments

Concealed carry

Just because you have the right to possess in one state, that doesn't mean you have the right to carry in another. No, not guns:

 A Michigan man learned the hard way that a medical marijuana card doesn't apply to individual bags and a cereal box of pot in Indiana.

Richard L. Baird Jr., 32, of Fowlerville, Mich., was arrested on a preliminary felony charge of possession of marijuana during a traffic stop on the Indiana Toll Road Sunday, according to a press release from Indiana State Police.

[. . .]

When Davis found several small bags of marijuana Baird had tried to conceal in his pants pocket, according to the release, Baird said he had a medical marijuana card from the state of Michigan.

Bummer. The story points out that in 2008, Michigan became the 15th state to adopt medical marijuana laws. I haven't been following the issue that closely, so the high number surprised me. I've written before that the U.S. Supreme Court is going to have to take up the same-sex marriage issue, just to sort things out among states that recognize it and those that don't. But this issue may be in need of attention even sooner.

There isn't just a problem of state reciprocity (or the lack thereof); these 15 states are openly deying Washington's position that marijuana is so evil that states may not supersede federal decrees. Some medical marijuana advocates declared a major victory earlier this year when the court refused to hear a case from California involving San Diego citing federal statues in its refusal to implement California's medical marijuana provisions. I think that overstates the importance of the case. And the Obama administration, after hinting that it wasn't going to push very hard on marijuana laws, took a few actions that indicated otherwise.

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