[bostonvaulter2]

States can be more restrictive but they cannot be less restrictive. Thus if the nation declares that marijuana is illegal a state cannot declare that it is legal (see the medical marijuana raids in California). And if the nation declares that alcohol is legal then a state can make it illegal within that state.

[ams6110]

And this is the opposite of what the founders would have wanted, I'd guess. The constitution mandates that powers not specifically granted to the federal government are reserved by the states. I'm no constitutional scholar, but I'm pretty sure the federal authority to regulate drugs was "found" in the interstate commerce clause as part of the food and drug reforms in the early 1900s. At the time, there were definitely problems but like all big government intervention the cure itself is now out of control and we now have an agency (FDA) that has its hands in about 1/4 of the GDP.

[chimeracoder]

This is why the first two federal laws targeted at prohibiting drugs didn't actually do it directly - they did it by way of taxes. The Marihuana Stamp Tax Act (1937) is the most famous, but it was preceded by another act that targeted proper narcotics (morphine, etc.). I believe it was the Harisson act, but I'm not certain.

In any case, the 1937 bill created an impossible-to-satisfy tax structure, because they knew that a direct prohibition would have been deemed unconstitutional. Unfortunately, by 1970, everyone had forgotten and the Controlled Substances Act passed easily.

[lmkg]

This is sorta-kinda true, but not quite. While the residents of a state are technically held to the union of state and federal laws, the jurisdictional issues are important. If a state declares something legal, that means that state-level LEOs won't enforce the federal laws. Those laws are still in effect, but if you're a deadbeat twenty-something toking up behind the liquor store, you care about the subset of laws being enforced by the local beat cop, not those being enforced by the FBI.

[sneak]

Yes, that is what I'm talking about. The person I was replying to seemed to claim otherwise.