1. The CSA expressly prohibits the cultivation, processing, distribution, and use of marijuana, declaring it unfit for any legal use. Since a market for marijuana legally cannot exist, why is this a Commerce Clause case? Do you agree or disagree with the Court that locally grown and locally consumed crops can have an impact on interstate commerce?

2. The California law gave licensed physicians the duty and authority to prescribe medical marijuana. Should a court have the right or power to substitute its judgment for the judgment of a trained professional?

3. California enacted this law to provide relief to certain California citizens deemed to need it. Citizens of other states were excluded from all provisions of this statute. Should the federal government have the right to determine that a federal law preempts a state law designed and intended to affect only the state’s residents?

In 1996, California voters approved a proposition legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The California legislature then adopted the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 to ensure that its residents had access to marijuana for medical use as an alternative to conventional methods. Raich and Monson were patients diagnosed with a variety of medical conditions which were not alleviated through traditional methods and medications. As a result, physicians in each case prescribed marijuana. In 2002, U.S. drug agents arrived at Monson’s home and confiscated and destroyed her marijuana plants pursuant to a federal law called the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).