on the federal level, we have the controlled substances act. that reigns supreme over any state law decriminalizing or even legalizing cannabis.
Again, no it doesn't.
The only time that reigns is in the domain of interstate commerce.
So long as California doesn't import seeds, fertilizer, soil, or anything else in order to grow their marijuana in state and allow it to be used medicinally by way of prescription from a doctor, there is nothing on earth the Federal Government can do about it.
Being on the schedule doesn't mean the government controls a state's right of self governance with regard to any drug. It means the government controls it nation wide from state to state. There's a big difference between the two.
Another example is guns. New York and New Jersey have some of the strictest gun laws in the nation. (Not that it matters as everybody just drives to Virginia where there are virtually no laws at all and buys them by the truck load.)
A state has exclusive right to regulate guns within it's borders and there is nothing on earth the Federal Government can do about it. That's why the government has never been able to pass universal background checks for guns. That infringes on the states rights of regulating their own militia, which in the eyes of the Constitution is illegal.
Now, if New York were to get up one morning and collectively say, "That's it. We no longer need a militia, so we are disbanding it in its entirety and banning guns permanently" then guess what?
There would be nothing on earth the Federal Government could do about it.
