Quote:
Originally Posted by Greyroofoo
So what gives the federal government the constitutional right to ban marijuana anyways?
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Short answer: The federal government can regulate interstate commerce. Which means that it can regulate things in interstate commerce, including by banning them.
Because intrastate things can have a substantial effect on interstate commerce--both by changing the price through market forces and through making it harder for police to, say, tell the difference between marijuana that has crossed state lines and marijuana that has not--the federal government can ban intrastate commodities if that ban is part of a larger regulation of interstate commerce.
Not everyone, including some members of the Supreme Court, agrees with this, but it is pretty settled law.