@Anonymous Dude: The federal prohibition on marijuana came into being about the same time as the first federal legislation on firearms. Prior to FDR's New Deal, the American people enjoyed much more freedom to make choices about their day to day lives. Roosevelt stacked the Supreme Court, (as Obama wants to do), created numerous federal agencies to intrude into affairs of private citizens, and oversaw the largest expansion of Washington's power the nation had ever seen. It was during FDR's tenure that the 10th Amendment became functionally worthless. Now we have federal drug agents raiding dispensaries in states where the citizens have decided, by the democratic process, to allow marijuana to be used for medical treatment purposes. The federal courts are handing down draconian sentences to sick people as well as those operating under legal status of their respective states to provide alternative treatment options. The number of raids and prosecutions during the Obama presidency are higher than the administrations of any of his predecessors. When Eric Holder isn't smuggling guns to the Mexican drug cartels he is administering a war on states that allow medical marijuana use. That being said, whether by design or simple omission the framers did not specifically acknowledge the rights of American citizens to grow what they wanted for the purpose they wanted. The framers may well have considered such a freedom so obvious that it needed no affirmation during the Constitutional Convention. (Clearly they did not envision that the government would one day be in the hands of fools and tyrants anymore than they anticipated the ignorance of today's electorate) However when you consider the open disdain that the government and many of the people have for those freedoms that were specifically mentioned in the Constitution, is it any wonder that so many would deny the right of choice in other matters? My personal position is that the government needs to be neutered, both to calm it down and to prevent it's reproductive spread. Though I do not use marijuana (I do not consume alcoholic beverages either), I have been a longtime member of NORML. For me, protecting the freedoms guaranteed in the Second Amendment, as well as those observed throughout the Bill of Rights and beyond, helps preserve the concept of personal liberty in our society. That is a view widely held by Second Amendment advocates. Those in power have learned to divide freedom loving Americans into separate factions, knowing that it dilutes the message and strength of opposition to the ever increasing encroachment of government. I say join us. You may find that rather than enemies among the gun rights movement, you are standing alongside kindred souls that believe you are the best qualified to make decisions about your own life, regardless of whether that decision is about owning a gun or something more dear to you.

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