Quote:
Originally Posted by Colette Meiji  Drugs in the US are banned via commerce laws.
I don't know if this is just a coincidence, but its an interesting possible parallel. |
The 10th amendment says that the federal government does not have any power not specifically authorized in the constitution. Those powers are reserved for the states or the people.
The way that the federal government has worked around this in an quasi-constitutional manner is to jam everything into the commerce clause, a clause that allows the federal government to regulate trade between the states (but not within them).
It's gotten so ridiculous that the federal government has basically usurped absolute power lately though. This has been a constant slide, but a major event was when the federal government exceeded their authority in forced desegregation on the states.
Because of this, most federal laws have the qualification "When such an act involves interstate commerce". And they have a very loose definition of what involves interstate commerce. For example, in
Raich, the supreme court ruled that growing pot in your backyard for your own noncommercial consumption affects interstate commerce enough for the federal govt to regulate it.