Draft SCOTUS Abortion Ruling Argues That Letting Roe Stand Could Lead To Drug Legalization
MJ moment

A controversial draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court concerning abortion rights seems to argue in a little-noticed passage that the constitutional justification for Roe v. Wade is so broad that it could theoretically be interpreted in a way that invalidates drug criminalization. While the draft majority opinion that was leaked this week has not been formally submitted and could be subject to changes before it is finalized, Associate Justice Samuel Alito’s argument in favor of overturning the half-century-old precedent on abortion rights also briefly touched on drug policy. “These attempts to justify abortion through appeals to a broader right to autonomy and to define one’s ‘concept of existence’ prove too much,” the opinion states. “Those criteria, at a high level of generality, could license fundamental rights to illicit drug use, prostitution, and the like.” “None of these rights has any claim to being deeply rooted in history,” Alito wrote in the draft, which was first revealed by Politico. What the justice seems to be saying is that, if Roe v. Wade were to stand, it could invite further legal challenges over issues where government policy is seen as interfering with the autonomy of individuals, potentially rendering it unconstitutional to prohibit people from using illicit drugs, for example. Alex Kreit, a legal expert who specializes in drug policy and teaches at Northern Kentucky University, told Marijuana Moment that the argument isn’t without precedent, though it hasn’t had much success in the courts to date. People “have made the argument that there is a fundament right to use drugs,” Kreit said, but he doesn’t believe that “any have had any promise outside of the context of medical uses.” There have been instances where courts have been faced with challenges concerning the right of patient to use currently prohibited substances like marijuana…

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Source : Draft SCOTUS Abortion Ruling Argues That Letting Roe Stand Could Lead To Drug Legalization

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