US Ban on Cannabis Unconstitutional – Cannabis News, Lifestyle

The US ban on cannabis is unconstitutional. The US House of Representatives banned cannabis in June 1937 on the belief that “marijuana” turned blacks and Hispanics into drug-addicted rapists. Prior to the vote, Republican Minority Leader Bertrand Snell of New York said, “I don’t know anything about the law.” Democratic Majority Leader Sam Rayburn of Texas was equally clueless. “I think it’s some kind of anesthetic.”

Or, as Nancy Pelosi once said of the Affordable Care Act, “We need to get the bill passed so you can find out what’s in it.”

This July 4th, it’s time to examine just how unconstitutional the US ban on cannabis really is.

How the US ban on cannabis came about

Technically, the US prohibition of cannabis in 1937 never happened. It was taxed so heavily that almost every hemp company went bankrupt. There was no viable hemp industry in the US until 1970, when the US government incorporated official prohibition into the Controlled Substances Act.

Richard Nixon later launched the drug war under similar racial prejudices. One of his henchmen, who was serving time in prison, once said:

“The Nixon campaign of 1968 and the Nixon White House thereafter had two enemies: the anti-war left and blacks. Do you understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either anti-war or black, but by getting the public to associate hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin and then heavily criminalizing both, we could disrupt communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings and slander them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we lied about the drugs? Of course we did.”

How did it happen? The US ban on cannabis is patently unconstitutional. The 10th Amendment gives that power to states. For this reason, the Supreme Court recently ruled Roe v. Wade lifted. It has nothing to do with “conservative judges” wanting to control a woman’s body. It is a constitutional question about the proper separation of powers.

Abortion, like cannabis, is a state matter, not a federal matter.

The trade clause

But the US Constitution has a clause called the Commerce Clause.

The clause is brief, but has had a significant impact on the history of the United States. And not in a good way. Courts have interpreted the trade clause as giving the US federal government complete control of the country. The Commerce Clause is why federalism hasn’t worked in the United States.

It is reading: [The Congress shall have Power] To regulate trade with foreign nations and between different states and with the Indian tribes;

Many point to the case of Wickard v. Filburn of 1942 as the beginning of the end. The Supreme Court ruled that punishing an Ohio farmer for exceeding a government-imposed wheat quota was warranted. Even if the wheat never left his farm, let alone the state.

How the trade clause enables the US ban on cannabis

How the trade clause enables the US ban on cannabis

In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the federal government in Gonzales v. Raich. This ruling states that the Commerce Clause allows the federal government to regulate home-grown medicinal cannabis. Unlike Wickard, who focused on production, this interpretation means that even possession of cannabis is a national concern.

Judge Clarence Thomas disagreed. In his argument, he said, “If Congress can fix this under the Commerce Clause, then it can fix practically anything — and the federal government no longer has limited and enumerated powers.”

The US ban on cannabis is unconstitutional. Point.

US Cannabis Ban: How Will It End?

John Stuart Mill once said:

“The only purpose for which power over a member of a civilized community can lawfully be exercised against his will is to avert harm to others. His own well-being, whether physical or moral, is not a sufficient guarantee… The individual is sovereign of himself, of his own body and mind.”

This quote sums up the spirit behind the American Revolution. Once, as in Canada today, the sole sovereign was the Crown, now represented by Queen Elizabeth and then King George.

After the revolution, Americans were sovereign individuals. They governed themselves. Power flowed from the people up to the states and then to the federal government.

This principle has been lost sometime in the last 246 years.

But today, July 4th, we see it resurgent in the United States. And the cannabis industry is moving forward.

Beginning in 1996 when California defied federal law and legalized medicinal cannabis. Then, later, in 2012, Colorado and Washington State famously became the first states to legalize recreational cannabis. This was not only a giant middle finger for the drug war, but also for federal government authority.

The spirit of 1776 lives on today more than ever. It’s common to think that America is tearing at the seams. That the country is fundamentally divided and a civil war is imminent. But just because you’re divorcing your spouse doesn’t mean you have to be violent towards them.

The US federal government has grossly overstepped its constitutional limits. Return to a small, limited federal government that allows states to govern as their populace sees fit.

And if that means banning cannabis and abortion in Mississippi or Oklahoma, so be it. As long as they allow their residents to come and go freely, the principles of classical liberalism live on for another generation.

Post a comment:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *