Respond to Peers: Respond to at least two of your classmates' posts. In your responses to your peers of at least 100 words per response,extend the conversation by examining their claims or arguments in more depth.
For instance, you might consider comparing your argument to a classmate with a different position on the Commerce Clause. Support your claims with examples from the required material(s) and/or other scholarly resources, and properly cite any references according to APA standards.
Student 1:
Under the Commerce Clause, Congress has the right to regulate interstate commerce. Interstate Commerce involves trade among the states and foreign entities. The enactment of the Commerce Clause gave Congress and the national government control over how buying, selling, and trading took place throughout the countries, which kept the states from establishing their own monopolies. In the case of medicinal marijuana, the federal government does can ban marijuana throughout the nation. Due to the Commerce act, Congressional law will supersede state law.
That means that even if a state has legalized medicinal marijuana, an individual can still be arrested and charged under federal law. I've personally seen how federal law goes over state law by being a federal employee. Military members are not permitted to use marijuana, medicinal or not, no matter what state we may reside in. In the case of Gonzales v. Raich, The Drug enforcement Agency seized marijuana that was being grown privately. The issue that arose with this case was if Congress had the right to justify banning medicinal marijuana under the Commerce Clause. The answer is yes because even though the state of California did allow the growth and use of marijuana for medicinal purposes under the California Compassionate Use Act of 1996, That did not supersede congressional law ( Ivers, 2013).
It was rationalized that Marijuana outside of federal control had an impact on the market. The issue that comes with the federal government attempting to put a ban on states that have legalized marijuana use, is that it would be heavily reliant on cooperation from the state itself (Adler, J. H.2015). Federal Law enforcement officers cannot replace state officers, which causes federal officials to not have the power to Enforce a marijuana ban.
References:
Adler, J. H. (2015). MARIJUANA, FEDERAL POWER AND THE STATES. Case Western Reserve Law Review, 65(3), 505-539.
Ivers, G. (2013). Constitutional law: an introduction [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/
Student 2:
In my opinion the federal government does not have the right to ban marijuana under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Camero (2013) states that "The clause gives Congress the ability to enact national laws concerning interstate commerce." If a state where marijuana is legal such as California or Colorado legalizes marijuana and it is nottransported over state lines, then the state is not in violation of the clause.
The federal government should not have any say so as to if a state allows people to use marijuana medically or recreationally as long as it doesn't affect another state then it becomes a violation under the clause. A political issue that may surround this case is that some religious groups can argue that the constitution protects their right to practice religion the way they would like in which they need to use marijuana in their practices.
Vigorito (2014) mentions that "The tenth Amendment of the Constitution states: "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 tenth Amendment gives state the right to legalize marijuana if they choose to without the federal government interfering. I personally feel marijuana should be regulated just like cigarettes and alcohol and this should be a right of the federal government in every state that marijuana is legal. The regulation to minors is a must and people should be registered to purchase marijuana with proper identification.
CAMERO, J. Level Up: Employing the Commerce Clause to Federalize the Sale of Goods. San Diego Law Review. 50, 1, 89-124, 2013. ISSN; 00364037.
VIGORITO, J. CREATING CONSTITUTIONAL CANNABIS: AN INDIVIDUAL STATE'S TENTH AMENDMENT RIGHT TO LEAGALIZE MARIJUANA. University of Toledo Law Review. 46,1,221-249, 2014. ISSN:00420190.