James P. Pinkerton

About the author: James P. Pinkerton is a columnist for Newsday in New York City.

States should be allowed to frame their own policies on marijuana use. Currently, federal law bars states from allowing the distribution of medical marijuana—even when the state population elects to permit it. But laws concerning many other issues—including gun control, school choice, tax cuts, and gay civil unions—are decided at the state level by ballots and legislatures, and marijuana laws should be too.

The Supreme Court's decision in August 2000 barring the distribution of medical marijuana in California is a reminder to the political left that the federal government—specifically, the federal judiciary—is not its automatic ally. The political right, of course...