Pubdate: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 Source: Times-Standard (Eureka, CA) Copyright: 2010 Times-Standard Contact: http://www.times-standard.com/writeus Website: http://www.times-standard.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1051 Author: Gene Owens STUDY THE CONSTITUTION Voters are about to decide whether to legalize marijuana, or not, through Proposition 19. Hearing this, I wanted to remind people to study their rights guaranteed by our Constitution. Technically, marijuana is not "illegal" at all. There is no enumerated power in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution that allows Congress to conduct a "war on drugs." Does anyone remember prohibition? Before the 18th Amendment was adopted in 1919, our national government had no power to conduct a war on alcohol. Let's explain this in simple terms. First of all, the United States is, and always has been a republic, with rules of written law included in the U.S. Constitution. All of our representatives take an oath to support and defend the Constitution -- including judges and police. Second, America does not have a "so-called" ruler called the federal government. We have a system which includes Congress, state legislatures and the people. Since the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, states cannot violate what it guarantees -- life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A violation of the Constitution -- which the war on drugs is -- is a direct injury, and citizens need to protect their civil rights. It's something to think about before voting day. In order to protect your freedoms, you must study the Constitution and demand that it be obeyed. Gene Owens Fortuna - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake