This Wednesday, I will be speaking at Michigan State University Law School and the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan. Both events sponsored by the local student Federalist Society chapters. In both cases, the topic will be Federalism and the War on Drugs. The talk at MSU will be at noon, and I will be debating Michigan state judge Landis Lain. I will speak at Cooley at 3:30 PM, this time flying solo.
Topics covered will probably include California Proposition 19 and the ways in which the growth of the War on Drugs has undermined constitutional limits on federal power, such as in the case of Gonzales v. Raich. In my view, Proposition 19 and other recent political developments represent the best opportunity in many years to impose serious constraints on the War on Drugs. But state governments will have to take the initiative first, just as they did in the years leading up to the end of Prohibition in 1933. Certainly, this is a very timely topic.