 10th Amendment
In the United States of America the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights. The 10th Amendment states that: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The founders of this country did not trust any form of government that had absolute power, and did not intend on the federal government becoming a dictatorship or monarchy, and therefore limited the powers of the federal government. According to the Tenth Amendment, the federal system of government of the United States has the power to regulate only matters specifically delegated to it by the Constitution. Other powers are reserved to the States, or to the people. Prohibition of Medical Marijuana is not delegated to the Drug Enforcement Administration or any other branch of the Federal Government in the Constitution of the Unites States of America, therefore according to the Tenth Amendment the decision for this and other matters was to be left up to the individual States and it's people to decide. To date, thirteen of those individual States have listened to its citizens and have passed Medical Marijuana Laws legalizing cannabis use for qualified medicinal purposes within their State. "The People" have made their decision regarding Medical Marijuana, clearly supported by the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution; ". . . reserved to the States respectively, or to the people". The Federal Government of the United States has taken it upon itself to ignore the limits placed upon it by the Constitution and to take away the rights of the individual States in making their own decision in this matter. By the Federal Government ignoring the decisions and democratic vote of the people, the Federal Government has affected clear violations of the Tenth Amendment rights of every single citizen of the United States of America. Each time the Federal Government raids a medical marijuana growing facility, or arrests a registered medical marijuana patient, or effects a search warrant on a medical marijuana patients home or business, they once again violate the 10th amendment rights of the citizens to decide for themselves on a State by State level the legality of Medical Marijuana. Since the Federal Government could not prohibit the states from passing their own laws with regards to marijuana under the constitution, they re-wrote the rules by passing the Commerce Clause. Thereby stating that anything that can be physically transported across state lines and then sold, could be regulated by the Federal Government. This was done without the public knowledge, and is far reaching in its power. Every possession that you own can be carried across state lines and sold, therefore, under the Commerce Clause, the Federal Government has in effect given itself the power to regulate the possession of and sale of everything that you own, all without you even knowing anything about it or voting on it. Over the years, people have slowly given away their rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution and have allowed the Federal Government to grow more and more powerful, a clear and rightful fear that the founders of our country had, and one that they tried to prevent by the framing of the Constitution of the United States and it's Amendments. Most citizens of the United States do not even know what their Constitutional Rights are, or when they are being violated. The individual States receive huge sums of money each year from the Federal Government for subsidized programs, Interstate Highway maintenance, etc., which the States are afraid of loosing if they stand up to, or revolt against the Federal Government for taking away their right to decide laws within their individual State. Until the citizens of this great country stand up, and demand that their Constitutional Rights are honored and respected, and until the individual States stand up for the rights and decisions of their citizens, the Federal Government will continue to slowly take their rights away, one by one. Let your elected officials know that you are tired of the Federal Government ignoring your Tenth Amendment rights, and demand that they stand up for your rights and the State's right to make these decisions for themselves. It's time for a change, together, we can make a difference and affect true change.
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