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Title: New Hampshire Decriminalizes Simple Marijuana Possession, Foundation to Nullify Federal Prohibition
Source:
10th Amendment Center
URL Source: http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.co ... o-nullify-federal-prohibition/
Published: Jul 20, 2017
Author: Shane Trejo
Post Date: 2017-07-22 10:07:58 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 1280
Comments: 6
CONCORD, N.H. (July 20, 2017) – A bill to decriminalize marijuana possession was signed into law by Gov. John Sununu on Tuesday. This represents a step towards nullifying the unconstitutional drug war in the Live Free or Die State. Along with 11 bipartisan co-sponsors, Rep. Robert Cushing (D-Hampton) introduced House Bill 640 (HB640) to end criminal penalties for simple marijuana possession by “allowing offenders to pay fines by mail will result in less time and resources spent on such cases, allowing police and courts to spend more time and resources dealing with serious crimes.” The New Hampshire Senate approved an amended version of HB640 on May 11 by a 17-6 margin. Previously, the New Hampshire House voted to approve HB640 on Mar. 8 by a 318-36 margin. The House concurred with the amended version of the legislation, and Gov. Sununu signed it into law on July 20. “The governor deserves credit for his steadfast support of this commonsense reform,” Matt Simon of the Marijuana Policy Project said. “Unlike his predecessors, who opposed similar proposals, Gov. Sununu appears to understand that ‘Live Free or Die’ is more than just a motto on a license plate.” In the final approved version of the bill, HB640 takes possession “of 3/4 ounce or less of marijuana or 5 grams or less of hashish” from a criminal misdemeanor to a civil infraction punishable by “a minimum of $350 for a first offense and $500 for a second or subsequent offense.” Any New Hampshire resident possessing “more than 3/4 ounce of marijuana or more than 5 grams of hashish” would be charged with a criminal misdemeanor, rather than a felony. “Currently, a criminal penalty accompanying a conviction for first-time possession of a small amount of marijuana can lead to a lifetime of hard consequences,” Rep. Cushing said in a Seacoast Online report. “These may include denial of student financial aid, housing, employment and professional licenses.” Now that marijuana decriminalization has been signed into law, it will mean that fewer New Hampshire residents will get ensnared by the cruel policies of the failed war on drugs. LEGALITY The federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) passed in 1970 prohibits all of this behavior. Of course, the federal government lacks any constitutional authority to ban or regulate marijuana within the borders of a state, despite the opinion of the politically connected lawyers on the Supreme Court. If you doubt this, ask yourself why it took a constitutional amendment to institute federal alcohol prohibition. Decriminalization of marijuana in New Hampshire removes a layer of laws prohibiting the possession and use of marijuana, but federal prohibition will remain on the books. FBI statistics show that law enforcement makes approximately 99 of 100 marijuana arrests under state, not federal law. By mostly ending state prohibition, New Hampshire essentially sweeps away most of the basis for 99 percent of marijuana arrests. Furthermore, figures indicate it would take 40 percent of the DEA’s yearly-budget just to investigate and raid all of the dispensaries in Los Angeles – a single city in a single state. That doesn’t include the cost of prosecution. The lesson? The feds lack the resources to enforce marijuana prohibition without state assistance. A GROWING MOVEMENT New Hampshire joins a growing number of states simply ignoring federal prohibition, and nullifying it in practice. Colorado, Washington state, Oregon and Alaska have already legalized recreational cannabis with California, Nevada, Maine, and Massachusetts set to join them after ballot initiatives in favor of legalization were passed in those states earlier this month. With more than two-dozen states allowing cannabis for medical use as well, the feds find themselves in a position where they simply can’t enforce prohibition any more. “The lesson here is pretty straight forward. When enough people say, ‘No!’ to the federal government, and enough states pass laws backing those people up, there’s not much the feds can do to shove their so-called laws, regulations or mandates down our throats,” Tenth Amendment Center founder and executive director Michael Boldin said. WHAT’S NEXT? HB640 will go into effect in the state of New Hampshire on Sept. 16, 2017.
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#1. To: Deckard (#0)
Well I guess some of the authoritarians here will be pissed. New Hampshire will be on their "shit list " . LOL Si vis pacem, para bellum Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. Never Pick A Fight With An Old Man He Will Just Shoot You He Can't Afford To Get Hurt I am concerned for the security of our great nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within." -- General Douglas MacArthur
They decriminalized possession of small amounts. It's still illegal at the state level.
The doctrine of state nullification is still dead.
Yeah - you and the rest of the fed.gov worshipers here keep saying that. Now you are insisting that states do not have the right to set their own penalties. Your incessant whining hasn't slowed down the number of states that have ignored the feds and who have enacted laws that are in the best interests of their individual states. I'm guessing that NH already was on their shit list - it's their state motto that throws the statists into a hissy fit. "Live Free or Die". States can have whatever penalties they want under state law. They cannot nullify or changed Federal law. Deal with it. State laws purporting to nullify federal laws or federal court opinions are like so many farts in the wind. Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1 (1958) Cooper at 18-19:
#2. To: Deckard (#0)
#3. To: Deckard (#0)
A bill to decriminalize marijuana possession was signed into law by Gov. John Sununu on Tuesday. This represents a step towards nullifying the unconstitutional drug war in the Live Free or Die State.
#4. To: nolu chan (#3)
(Edited)
The doctrine of state nullification is still dead.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#5. To: Stoner (#1)
New Hampshire will be on their "shit list " .
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#6. To: Deckard (#4)
Now you are insisting that states do not have the right to set their own penalties.
Article VI of the Constitution makes the Constitution the "supreme Law of the Land." In 1803, Chief Justice Marshall, speaking for a unanimous Court, referring to the Constitution as "the fundamental and paramount law of the nation," declared in the notable case of Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137, 177, that "It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is." This decision declared the basic principle that the federal judiciary is supreme in the exposition of the law of the Constitution, and that principle has ever since been respected by this Court and the Country as a permanent and indispensable feature of our constitutional system. It follows that the interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment enunciated by this Court in the Brown case is the supreme law of the land, and Art. VI of the Constitution makes it of binding effect on the States "any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding." Every state legislator and executive and judicial officer is solemnly committed by oath taken pursuant to Art. VI, cl. 3, "to support this Constitution." Chief Justice Taney, speaking for a unanimous Court in 1859, said that this requirement reflected the framers' "anxiety to preserve it [the Constitution] in full force, in all its powers, and to guard against resistance to or evasion of its authority, on the part of a State . . . ." Ableman v. Booth, 21 How. 506," 524. No state legislator or executive or judicial officer can war against the Constitution without violating his undertaking to support it. Chief Justice Marshall spoke for a unanimous Court in saying that: "If the legislatures of the several states may, at will, annul the judgments of the courts of the United States, and destroy the rights acquired under those judgments, the constitution itself becomes a solemn mockery . . . ." United States v. Peters, 5 Cranch 115, 136. A Governor who asserts a power to nullify a federal court order is similarly restrained. If he had such power, said Chief Justice Hughes; in 1932, also for a unanimous Court, "it is manifest that the fiat of a state Governor, and not the Constitution of the United States, would be the supreme law of the land; that the restrictions of the Federal Constitution upon the exercise of state power would be but impotent phrases . . . ." Sterling v. Constantin, 287 U. S. 378, 397-398.
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