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9th Amendment

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eerlikh

Junior Member
I live in New Jersey.

I was thinking about the ninth amendment recently, what does it mean?

It says: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

This to me means certain rights are "common sense" and can never be illegal constitutionally.

My question is this. Can this amendment possibly be used to claim that the government's war on drugs, specifically, marijuana is unconstitutional? Why or why not?

The way I see it, is it should be perfectly legal for me to consume and posses a harmless plant, similarly, it should be perfectly legal for me to eat and ingest food that is harmless. (Pot has yet to be proven harmful.)
 


sandyclaus

Senior Member
I live in New Jersey.

I was thinking about the ninth amendment recently, what does it mean?

It says: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

This to me means certain rights are "common sense" and can never be illegal constitutionally.

My question is this. Can this amendment possibly be used to claim that the government's war on drugs, specifically, marijuana is unconstitutional? Why or why not?

The way I see it, is it should be perfectly legal for me to consume and posses a harmless plant, similarly, it should be perfectly legal for me to eat and ingest food that is harmless. (Pot has yet to be proven harmful.)
Still trying to use the "against my civil rights to prosecute me for possessing marijuana" defense, are we?

As I said in your other thread (https://forum.freeadvice.com/speeding-other-moving-violations-13/got-careless-driving-ticket-nj-i-should-not-have-gotten-595666.html), just because YOU believe that you are special and have the right to possess what your state and the Federal government have classified as an illegal substance doesn't make it so. Take it up with your lawmakers. It won't wash in your drug possession defense attempt.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
It means that the constitution is not intended to list all the rights it is intended to address. A persons right are not created by the constitution. The are inherent and inalienable.

Your argument fails because the state does have a right to control the use of marijuana just as it does alcohol and tobacco. There is a valid basis for controlling the use of marijuana. Yes, it is harmful, just not in the way you are thinking it is. If you do some research on LSD, you will have trouble finding anything proving it is harmful to the user yet the government has outlawed it. It too is harmful, just as with marijuana, not in the way you are thinking about it.
 

TigerD

Senior Member
I've never done this. Do you possibly have any advice on how this can be done effectively? I'll obviously do my own research as well.
Money. Lots of it.

You can't buy a U.S. politician; you can only rent them.

DC
 

FlyingRon

Senior Member
The ninth was a bone to the founders who felt the bill of rights was not necessary or even merited because the RIGHTS of the people are inherent. The BoR was a follow on to similar declarations in British history over the years, but they fell short of the weight that the Constitution places on them. The ninth just points out that this is NOT a comprehensive list and further rights are STILL inherent rather than reserved to the government.
 

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