norml.org
by Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director
“What the End of Prohibition May Look Like”
Authored By Justin Butler
NORML Legal Intern
J.D. Candidate, George Washington Law School, Spring 2013
To fix the system, we must first understand the system. This paper seeks to explain why the federal government has the power to ignore the democratic will of its citizens and to continue to enforce unjust laws on voters who have decided that the imprisonment of cannabis consumers is a waste of government resources and a threat to civil society. While to government’s power to regulate the economy isn’t new, this power was only “recently” (by legal standards) expanded to give the government the power to ban non-lethal drugs. After all, banning alcohol required an Amendment to the Constitution. Yet, less than 50 years later, the Supreme Court changed its mind and allowed the federal government to ban marijuana without state approval, much less a Constitutional Amendment.
This apparently tyrannical power-grab stems, not solely from overzealous law makers, but from the inherent structure of our constitutional government. There are certain explicit provisions in our Constitution, such as the Supremacy Clause, Commerce Clause, and Necessary and Proper Clause, that the Supreme Court has seized upon to allow the federal government to override the legislative wishes of individual states in the course of setting federal policy. The first half of this paper provides a detailed overview of the powers provided to the federal government by the Constitution, and how these powers have been construed in recent times to allow the government to completely ban the possession, use, production, and sale of marijuana.
The federal government’s power in this arena is not unlimited, however, and there are certain actions marijuana reformers can take to help prevent this crackdown as they pen future marijuana legalization ballot initiatives. The second half of this paper explains how, through proper legal drafting, reform activists can limit the ability of the federal government to strike down or limit the effectiveness of state marijuana initiatives.
If you would like to learn more on the subject of how the powers of the federal government operate to curtail your ability to consume cannabis, and how we can correct this injustice through the power of democracy, then this paper is for you.
COMMENT,
First of all, it is not the Federal Government any more, it is the Federal Nazi SS, Just look at the recent raids in California among the other States that have passed laws Legalizing for Medical purposes.
Second of all, They could care less about the Constitution and Bill of Rights, As Bush once said and I quote ” It`s just another Goddammed piece of paper”, That`s a Republican for you,
Third, We the People NO longer decide what is best for ourselves through the Voting process, The Corporations decide and pad the pockets of our Government officials and FIX the elections, Just look at how biased the Mainstream Media is, Guess who owns them – Corporate interests, How long has Gary Johnson been running as a Libertarian candidate for President? When was the last time you heard Fox news or CNN mention him? If it were not for the Internet, Virtually NOBODY would even know he existed, You bet it is time for a change, How far down the rabbit hole do we have to go before something actually get`s done?