#congressional-authorization

#congressional-authorization

Congress has made narcotics importation a serious felony crime fit for prosecution in the civilian courts. It has not authorized the executive branch to treat it as an armed attack to be countered by American military power. Obviously, narcotics trafficking is a significant crime problem, but American users obtain illegal narcotics voluntarily and, usually, nonviolently. The importation and distribution of illegal drugs is simply not analogous to a missile strike or other violent mass-murder attack, he wrote.