Opinions - Drug use is not just a human right. It's also a constitutional right!

[Expat98]

In addition to drug use being an inalienable human right (see this thread) as such rights are conceived in modern times, it also seems to me that drug use is a constitutional right under the U.S. Constitution. And I am wondering why the constitutionality of the War on Drugs has never been challenged, or even seriously discussed by drug policy reform groups (as far as I am aware)?

The right to use drugs is not directly addressed in the Constitution. However, the 9th amendment specifies that:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

"the enumeration...of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." In other words, just because a certain right is not specifically listed or explicitly protected by the Constitution does not mean that right does not exist. Rather this amendment explicates the principle of government power as a grant from the people, rather than individual rights being a grant from the government.

Also the 10th amendment: Unenumerated rights (i.e., rights not listed) are reserved to the states or to the people. Since California and other states have clearly expressed their will on the issue of medical marijuana, the federal government's refusal to recognize their sovereignty on this issue is a clear violation of the 10th amendment.

I also note that the prohibition of alcohol was enacted by a constitutional amendment (the 18th amendment, which was later repealed by the 21st amendment). Obviously, it was deemed necessary to amend the Constitution in order to prohibit the use of alcohol. It should therefore be necessary to amend the Constitution in order to prohibit the use of other drugs as well. However, there has been no such amendment, which leads me to believe that this right is retained by the people.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	So true - thanks for pointing this out.
	Very impressive argument.