This post New Deal federalism was eventually followed by a reversal of policy shifts during the Rehnquist Court, particularly in United States v. Lopez, involving the Gun-free school zones act of 1990, and United States v. Morrison, when some headway was made to limit the federal government's power and reinstate the power of the states. However, during a particular case involving marijuana, Gonzales v. Raich, the federal government prevailed against a pot-smoking defendant, with the court ruling against her. In dissention, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote, "Respondents Diane Monson and Angel Raich 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."



Mistake or not, it is universally accepted that states, not the federal government, have the sole right to regulate the practice of medicine (i.e. Doctors). When it comes to prescribing and dispensing marijuana for medical use, then, it would appear the federal government must defer to states' rights. But in 2001, the 107th Congress passed a bill "To provide for the medical use of marijuana in accordance with the laws of the various States," otherwise known as the "States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Act," H. R. 2592. In so doing, marijuana was moved from Schedule I to Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act.



Also, the act barred the Controlled Substances Act from 1) regulating the prescribing of marijuana to patients by physicians, 2) preventing a patient from obtaining marijuana under prescription or recommendation by a physician, and 3) interfering with a pharmacy in obtaining and holding medical marijuana according to state law. It also bars the Act from prohibiting any state authorized entity from producing and distributing medical marijuana. Section 3 of the Act, also bars the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act from prohibiting various essential activities related to the prescribing and dispensing, and possession of medical marijuana. So in answer to the question, if you like to get stoned by smoking pot, then as long as you have a doctor's prescription and the marijuana is obtained according to state medical marijuana laws, it's legal.