by Brett Hofmeister

Created on: February 18, 2009

The Constitution of the United States of America isn't about creating laws and limiting the rights of the people. It's about defending their rights and protecting people from extreme governmental power. That is my main reason for disagreeing with a constitutional amendment banning the use of illicit drugs. Such an amendment brings thoughts of the eighteenth amendment, prohibition of alcohol, which the government repealed when they decided that they could make big bucks by monopolizing the market. I am not trying to defend the use of illicit drugs in any way. I think all drugs that aren't over-the-counter or prescription should be banned, just not by the Constitution. I am trying to defend the purpose and validity of the Constitution of the United States of America.

The Constitution begins with the Bill of Rights. The first ten amendments are all about making sure that the people in the United States are free and safe from overbearing governmental controls. It isn't until the eighteenth amendment that any rights of the people are taken away. Since then there hasn't been an amendment that restricts the rights of the people. The government even fixed the eighteenth amendment with the twenty-first amendment, which repealed the prohibition of alcohol and gave complete control of the sale of alcohol to the United States government. People have come to rely on the Constitution for defense in many situations including keeping safe their basic rights of free speech, right to a trial, and the right to vote. Creating an amendment that restricts people's rights will cause them to lose their confidence that the Constitution is there to defend them when they need it.

I don't want to sound paranoid but maybe our government wants to do the same thing with illicit drugs that it did with alcohol. Make the use and sale of illicit drugs against the Constitution until the government can get control of the entire industry and then allow it with a legal monopoly on that market as well. I hope our government isn't that corrupt but if they did it with alcohol what is stopping them from doing it with anything else?

Adding an amendment against the use of illicit drugs would go against the purpose of the Constitution and undermine what little trust Americans have left in their government. When people can't trust their government to protect their rights we will have lost what makes the United States of America such a desirable place to live.

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