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