Editorial: When laws collide, human damage can be real
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The United States of America sometimes can be a little less united than it should be — and sometimes a little too in lockstep.
That is because while the federal government makes laws, so do the 50 individual states. So do municipal governments and counties. While they all have to comply with the U.S. and state constitutions to be legal, there’s no requirement for them to agree with each other.
The interlocking layers of government can mean that sometimes what is perfectly legal in one jurisdiction is utterly unacceptable in another. That’s a particular problem when a state says something is OK but the federal government, which has jurisdiction everywhere, doesn’t.
There is no single issue where that is seen more than marijuana.
Since the legalization of medical marijuana in Pennsylvania, approved dispensaries have popped up like mushrooms. (No, not those mushrooms.) People have obtained medical cards allowing them to get help treating chemotherapy side effects, glaucoma, anxiety and other conditions.
The problem is that the federal government still outlaws marijuana. That generally complicates things for cannabis businesses. They can’t use federally insured banks, for instance. Crossing state lines can create problems when one state doesn’t allow what another does.
But for individual users, there can be challenges too. Tyler Cordeiro, 24, died of a drug overdose because he couldn’t get approved for addiction treatment funding through a state program. Why? Because he had a medical marijuana card — perfectly legal, and issued by the same state.
Unfortunately, restrictive language from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration stopped money going to any individual or organization that provides or “permits marijuana use for the purposes of treating substance use or mental disorders,” according to a Spotlight PA article.
The language since has been changed. The Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs highlighted the change this week. It didn’t indicate that Cordeiro’s death had a role in the change but just noted support for the new language.
These issues need to be addressed on a broader scope. The federal government may not want to change its position on marijuana legalization, which is understandable, but there should be a way to defer to state legalization where appropriate.
Hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians alone have marijuana cards, and there are 36 other states where medical marijuana is legal. In 18 states, it is legal recreationally, and Gov. Tom Wolf and Lt. Governor John Fetterman would like to see Pennsylvania join that roster.
But before more progress on legalization is made, there should be more resolution of how state and federal laws are going to interact. No one should die because of a jurisdictional argument.