Let’s start with guns. “Like most rights, the next Amendment right is not unlimited,” the discovered jurists opined. Whether individuals should enjoy the to be armed is a matter of carrying on an issue that falls along ideological lines. Virginia colonists started growing hemp, by order of King James I, in 1619. George Washington grew hemp.
The therapeutic use of cannabis began no later than 1839. In 1854 the New York Times called cannabis “a trendy narcotic.” With the 1880s there were numerous hashish parlors as well as opium dens generally in most American cities. During the unhappiness, small farmers began to complain that these were being driven out of business by large farms that utilized Mexican field hands who smoked weed. Currently 21 areas and the District of Columbia have legalized “medical marijuana.” Four states, all in the West – Alaska, Washington, Colorado, and Oregon – have legalized marijuana for use as a recreational intoxicant.
All of those states and all those users defy federal government law. Under federal government law, cannabis remains a so-called “Schedule 1 substance” without any legal medical use. 250,000 fine the very first time you are captured by them. The penalties double if they have caught you with killer weed before. Selective enforcement of the federal prohibition on marijuana possession and use has turned into a law-enforcement tool in the war on motorcycle clubs.
For example, the racketeering indictment of 16 people of the Kingsmen Motorcycle Club this season is padded with weed charges. Seven of the 46 counts are federal marijuana offenses. The Department of Justice feels they should have been. One Kingsmen, “did knowingly, intentionally and unlawfully possess with the intent to distribute, and disperse, a level of marijuana, a Schedule I controlled chemical. The legal idea is fairly straightforward: If you smoke marijuana you forfeit your next Amendment privileges.
You cannot lawfully have a firearm. If you smoke weed and have a firearm and you are an associate of an indicted motorcycle golf club you may face 20 years in a federal jail. All of the above lends context to a ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, The Ninth Circuit has appellate jurisdiction over Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.
Alaska, Washington, and Oregon permit the recreational use of cannabis. Arizona, California, Hawaii, Montana, and Nevada permit the use of medical marijuana. The Ninth Circuit has jurisdiction over federal case in nine states. 8 of these continuing says allow residents to ingest cannabis. Nevada rules require medical marijuana users to register with the constant state.