The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Police becoming a military force? ABA Journal Article

**tyme** · July 17, 2013, 07:39 AM

Everyone recognized that an amendment was necessary to ban a substance, presenting no immediate danger to anyone other than the consumer, from being produced or sold.

The government has decided that it can ban other substances, with no immediate danger to anyone other than the consumer, without a constitutional amendment. And more, they ban possession as well, not just production and sale. Can you explain why this is constitutional? The general welfare clause? If the general welfare clause allows this, it would seem to allow anything the government thinks might help people. Not to mention that this arrangement is one of the main factors that has turned the federal government into a general law enforcement apparatus, when it's supposed to deal only with crimes that are genuinely interstate or which affect the operation of the Republic.

The no immediate danger clause is because, arguably, the government does have an interest in banning area-effect weapons (arguably... there's a case that such weapons might be needed to fight a tyrannical government), or anything that can cause injury or death to someone inadvertently stumbling across a cache of the stuff. That doesn't really apply to most drugs that you have to ingest in a noticeable quantity or snort or inject to be affected. Anything like that would not be a good drug.

July 17, 2013, 07:39 AM	#52
tyme Staff Join Date: October 13, 2001 Posts: 3,355	Everyone recognized that an amendment was necessary to ban a substance, presenting no immediate danger to anyone other than the consumer, from being produced or sold. The government has decided that it can ban other substances, with no immediate danger to anyone other than the consumer, without a constitutional amendment. And more, they ban possession as well, not just production and sale. Can you explain why this is constitutional? The general welfare clause? If the general welfare clause allows this, it would seem to allow anything the government thinks might help people. Not to mention that this arrangement is one of the main factors that has turned the federal government into a general law enforcement apparatus, when it's supposed to deal only with crimes that are genuinely interstate or which affect the operation of the Republic. The no immediate danger clause is because, arguably, the government does have an interest in banning area-effect weapons (arguably... there's a case that such weapons might be needed to fight a tyrannical government), or anything that can cause injury or death to someone inadvertently stumbling across a cache of the stuff. That doesn't really apply to most drugs that you have to ingest in a noticeable quantity or snort or inject to be affected. Anything like that would not be a good drug. __________________ “The egg hatched...” “...the egg hatched... and a hundred baby spiders came out...” (blade runner) “Who are you?” “A friend. I'm here to prevent you from making a mistake.” “You have no idea what I'm doing here, friend.” “In specific terms, no, but I swore an oath to protect the world...” (continuum) “It's a goal you won't understand until later. Your job is to make sure he doesn't achieve the goal.” (bsg)