By Douglas V. Gibbs
One of the latest reports is that the Mexican Drug Cartels are manning the border better than we are. The drug cartels have been having a problem with independent drug dealers killing their drug runners, and taking the product to sell for themselves. In response, the drug cartels have hired assassins to comb the border regions, dressed like drug runners, with the duty of killing any independents that try to rob them.
The violence from drug cartels in Mexican cities, and their attacks against public officials, has gotten so bad that is has resulted in one town, while searching for a new Police Chief, to receive only one applicant: a twenty year old female college student. The town of Guadalupe has about 10,000 residents, and cannot attract anybody else to take the job. In the country, 11 mayors have been slain, including Guadalupe's mayor last June. More than 23,000 people have died in the country's drug violence since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug cartels in 2006. Mexico has become the new Columbia, which experienced similar drug cartel violence a couple decades ago.
One of the excuses being used for the push for legalization of Marijuana in California is to alleviate the leverage the drug cartels have in the State. If Marijuana is legal, reasons the proponents of Proposition 19, the illegal drug trade will cease.
Legalizing Marijuana will not eliminate the drug cartels, or the criminal culture associated with drugs. Passing Proposition 19 will no more eliminate the crime in California surrounding drugs, than did legalizing alcohol in eliminating the mob.
Additionally, the Federal Government has stated that if Marijuana is legalized in California, federal agencies will recognize the new California law as illegal, and will continue to enforce federal drug laws in California. The Los Angeles County sheriff, Lee Baca, a leading opponent of the measure to legalize Marijuana, is embracing the federal judicial stance regarding the federal government's legal supremacy in regards to drug laws. He said that the initiative was unconstitutional and vowed to continue enforcing marijuana laws, no matter what voters do in November.
The constitutionality that Mr. Baca is referring to is in Article 6, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution, commonly referred to as the "Supremacy Clause." The clause reads: "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, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding."
Problem is, the federal government is not given the authority to legislate in regards to drugs anywhere in the Constitution. The federal laws, in order to be supreme over State laws, must be made in pursuant of the authorities given to the federal government by the U.S. Constitution, in order for those laws to be legal and supreme. State laws are not contrary to federal law when the federal law is illegal in the first place when one considers that the federal government does not have the authority to legislate in regards to drugs. Therefore, federal enforcement of drug laws in California contrary to what the laws say in California is actually unconstitutional. If the federal government desires to have the authority over drugs, they must pass an amendment giving them the authority, just as the federal government did in regards to alcohol when they decided to launch prohibition a century ago.
I am not in favor of the legalization of Marijuana, but I know what the Constitution says, and if California passes a law legalizing Marijuana, from a Constitutional standpoint, the federal government has no leg to stand on.
The problems in California, should the proposition pass, will be more than merely dealing with an unconstitutional action by the federal government. Businesses are already leaving California in droves because of the hostile liberal atmosphere toward business, and the worsening state economy. Adding the ability for a drug to be used recreationally will further deepen the crisis in California, and the State will experience an exodus by residents that will be unrivaled by the recent skid.
To illustrate the problems the State will face with the legalization of Marijuana, one must only look towards what such a policy would do to a corporation.
If you had two companies, one with strict restrictions regarding the use of Marijuana, and another that allows its employees to smoke weed at will, which company do you think has the better chance to be profitable?
The same goes for States.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Mexican Cartels Send Assassins to Border - Federal News Radio
College student named police chief in Mexico; no one else applied - Yahoo News
U.S. Will Enforce Marijuana Laws, State Vote Aside - New York Times
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