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I certainly hope that New Mexico does not follow Colorado's "lead." One can argue the merits or evils of marijuana all day long, but the legal reality is that the Colorado law (which was passed by popular referendum where legal scrutiny prior to enactment was practically nil) absolutely is federally unconstitutional. Why? It clearly violates Artcile VI, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution, quoted below with my emphasis in italics:
All it will take is someone to mount a legal challenge to the Constitutionality of the Colorado marijuana law in the Federal Courts, and it will be "game over" for the Colorado marijuana legalization. What is despicable is that the President and the Attorney General of the United States are blatantly violating their Oath of Office to "uphold the Laws and the Constitution of the United States" when they have refused to challenge the Colorado law in the Federal Courts themselves. I guess that they have taken the tact that violating the law is OK as long as it's popular. That's a slippery slope that will eventually lead the country to a very bad place.
We've been down this road before Jazzlover & yet you continue to spout this nonsense. The tenth amendment gives Colorado the right to legalize Marijuana..... period. The federal government has already stated that they do not believe they would win on this issue in the courts and are therefore not challenging it. They also cannot force Colorado or any other state who legalize like Colorado did to enforce federal law. This was beaten to death in your own thread in the Colorado forums. Taking your argument to the New Mexico forums doesn't make it any more valid than it was before. Get used to legal marijuana....... it's coming across the country over the next 10-15 years.
Funny how conservatives hate big government interference..... until they don't.
Last edited by DurangoJoe; 12-19-2013 at 03:36 PM..
You obviously don't understand the US Constitution. The federal statute making marijuana illegal was a duly enacted federal statute. Until such time as a Federal Court might rule it unconstitutional (about a 0% chance of that), the law will stand until such time as it is legislatively modified or repealed at the federal level. As such, no state can pass a law that would countervale the federal law without the state law being deemed federally unconstitutional. That is the way the Supremacy Clause works. Oh, they didn't "need" a Constitutional Amendment to ban alcohol--Congress could have passed legislation and the President could have signed the legislation to statutorily ban alcohol. They, however, chose to propose the Amendment and referred it to the states for ratification--probably a matter of political expediency to let the states have a direct say in whether or not to ratify the Amendment. Oh, and the actual mechanics of the federal alcohol ban was the Volstead Act--a federal statute--that was enacted subsequent to the ratification of the 18th Amendment.
LOL, understand the constitution? You lack understanding here Jazz as the tenth amendment gives Colorado and any other state that wants to the right to legalize marijuana. The laws are structured in such a way that there is no positive conflict with federal law so there is nothing that the feds can do besides enforcing federal law themselves....period.
This was discussed extensively in the Colorado forums and nothing has changed. Your argument wnet down in flames and it was confirmed by federal govt acquiescence. The federal govt is accommodating because they know they can't win the court battle.
You are entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts. You let your own personal beliefs around marijuana cloud your opinions. The tenth amendment rules this issue and Colorado (and others) are well within their rights to regulate marijuana themselves.
There are 5 types of people that I really dislike.
People that are abusive to women.
People that are abusive to children.
People that are abusive to animals.
Drunks.
Druggies.
You can probably figure out my opinion on legalizing pot heads.
What about cigarette users? 400,000 deaths a year
People that don't eat right or exercise? 350,000 deaths a year
Drunks? 100,000 deaths a year
Cars? 25,000 deaths a year
Prescription drugs? 20,000 deaths a year
Even peanuts kill!
People have been using marijuana since 7,000 years before christ and nobody has died from it yet. Regardless of your personal opinion of people that enjoy cannabis whether medicinally or recreationally there is no reason our country that is extremely in debt should continue to spend countless dollars fighting a losing war against a plant. Especially when it has a lot more uses than just getting high. It's better to regulate and tax it, and take that money out of the hands of dangerous mexican drug cartels.
Too many people brainwashed by the US government. Read a book!
What about cigarette users? 400,000 deaths a year
People that don't eat right or exercise? 350,000 deaths a year
Drunks? 100,000 deaths a year
Cars? 25,000 deaths a year
Prescription drugs? 20,000 deaths a year
Even peanuts kill!
People have been using marijuana since 7,000 years before christ and nobody has died from it yet. Regardless of your personal opinion of people that enjoy cannabis whether medicinally or recreationally there is no reason our country that is extremely in debt should continue to spend countless dollars fighting a losing war against a plant. Especially when it has a lot more uses than just getting high. It's better to regulate and tax it, and take that money out of the hands of dangerous mexican drug cartels.
Too many people brainwashed by the US government. Read a book!
What does deaths from other vices have to do with anything?
I have no problem with Marijuana for medicinal uses. I do have a problem with pot heads. People that get high just for the fun of it. Same as with people that get drunk for the fun of it.
So, because someone has a different opinion than yours they are brain washed and have never read a book? Talk about ignorance.
What does deaths from other vices have to do with anything?
Because they do far more harm than marijuana, but they are perfectly legal, and available on every street corner.
I have no problem with Marijuana for medicinal uses. I do have a problem with pot heads. People that get high just for the fun of it. Same as with people that get drunk for the fun of it.
Some people would argue that all use of marijuana is medicinal. It has many benefits.
So, because someone has a different opinion than yours they are brain washed and have never read a book? Talk about ignorance.
You do seem close minded, but that comment wasn't directed at you. After thousands of years of people using Marijuana the United States decided it was evil in 1937 because hemp threatened cotton. It was perfectly legal when our country was formed (George Washington grew pot in his yard). They then told us for decades how dangerous marijuana is, and yeah they have brainwashed people into believing that.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,758 posts, read 23,861,094 times
Reputation: 14671
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zoidberg
I think this thread should be closed. The past half-dozen comments had nothing to do with NM.
Or we could get the thread topic back on track. Like gay marriage in Massachusetts 10 years ago, many people have seen the sky hasn't fallen as a result of it, and just yesterday NM has become the 17th state to legalize it.
Colorado will start selling legal marijuana at the retail level in just 12 days. Eventually that process will move along, the sky won't fall, then after a while people will get over the stigma of it that Nixon instilled 40 years ago and realize that keeping it illegal is doing more harm than good, and then Colorado will probably rub off on New Mexico and other states thereafter for sure.
If anybody has a legitimate complaint regarding a post they should report it by clicking on the Report Posts icon.
Currently, I will not close this thread just because someone does not like it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zoidberg
The past half-dozen comments had nothing to do with NM.
Some of those may have been deleted. Some may have received a warning or infraction.
The Terms of Service specifically state: "Stay on topic. Attempts to hi-jack threads by switching topics or going off topic will be deleted and infractions issued. This is not a chat room - when people hi-jack threads by posting messages that are of interest to only few people, the threads often stop being useful discussions of initial topics."
The Terms Of Service (TOS) which you agreed to when you registered are here: Terms Of Service
LOL, understand the constitution? You lack understanding here Jazz as the tenth amendment gives Colorado and any other state that wants to the right to legalize marijuana. The laws are structured in such a way that there is no positive conflict with federal law so there is nothing that the feds can do besides enforcing federal law themselves....period.
I guess that you just can't read the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution, can you? Here it is, once again:
Quote:
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.
Fact one: States can not enact laws that conflict with duly enacted federal law. If they do, the state law is federally unconstitutional.
Fact two: The only exception to the above is if the federal law is declared to be federally unconstitutional by the Federal Courts.
Fact three: Marijuana is illegal under Federal law.
Fact four: The Federal prohibition on marijuana has NOT been found to be unconstitutional.
Conclusion: Legalization of marijuana at the state or local level conflicts with current federal law and thus is federally constitutional.
Any state, including New Mexico, that legalizes marijuana is opening itself to a challenge in the Federal Courts that will almost certainly lead to the legalization statute being declared federally unconstitutional. The fact that such a challenge has not been mounted does not mean that one would not succeed once filed.
The "supremacy clause" is the most important guarantor of national union. It assures that the Constitution and federal laws and treaties take precedence over state law and binds all judges to adhere to that principle in their courts.
State and federal officials, whether legislative, executive, or judicial, must take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution.
So, by adopting legalization of marijuana at the state level, not only has the state enacted law that violates the US Constitution's Supremacy Clause, one can also strongly argue that the state officials who are now attempting to administer that law are also violating their Oath of Office to uphold the US Constitution. A couple of experts that I know whose specialty are matters of federal and state jurisdiction and law tell me that state officials involved in the adoption of the marijuana legalization regulations at the state level could actually fall under the federal RICO statutes for racketeering.
All of this has very ugly and expensive ramifications for any state that goes down the legalization road so long as marijuana is federally illegal. New Mexico should avoid that mess at all costs.
Oh, and this:
Quote:
Colorado will start selling legal marijuana at the retail level in just 12 days.
Well, first of all, just because Colorado says it legal, it's still federally illegal. Also, any expert in constitutional litigation will tell you that the best strategy is to wait until an obviously federally unconstitutional law actually goes into effect before challenging it. Once in effect, it is no longer a theoretical legal matter, but an actual one. I fully expect a legal challenge to come in Colorado once the law is in effect.
Last edited by jazzlover; 12-25-2013 at 10:30 PM..
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