News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Congress Accidentally Legalized Weed Six Years Ago. Parent comment

Re:Congress Accidentally Legalized Weed Six Years Ago by dtagames on Monday July 15, 2024 @11:29AM (#40968724)
Indeed. The state health department tried to stop it a few years ago. The $8 billion hemp product industry in Texas ended that in about 3 days. The state was found to have no jurisdiction.

Recently, there was an "alternative hemp products" expo here in Houston (that's the new word for this stuff). Just like the marijuana expos in Colorado when that first became legal, Texas is a dry state for pot with no legal states within an easy drive. This, combined with our huge population, makes it a natural market "alt hemp." I don't think it will be going away here anytime soon.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Congress Accidentally Legalized Weed Six Years Ago by 0cf8612b2e1e on Monday July 15, 2024 @01:49PM (#40969967) 

  The state was found to have no jurisdiction.
I know politicians can justify laws coinciding with their belief system, but this strikes me as hilarious rationale. I thought the state was supposed to be the final authority. Does anyone have the ability to regulate the sale of plants?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Congress Accidentally Legalized Weed Six Years Ago by ImPostingOnHN on Monday July 15, 2024 @02:26PM (#40970235)
The constitution (Texas' and/or USA's) is (theoretically) the final authority. It's possible that many things don't have constitutional authorization for state regulation.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Congress Accidentally Legalized Weed Six Years Ago by 0cf8612b2e1e on Monday July 15, 2024 @02:46PM (#40970387)
Regulating sale of crops (via taxes, quality control standards, defining a vegetable, or even the standardized size of a bushel) seem government rights with exceedingly long precedent. The constitution was signed when the economy was predominantly agricultural.

I appreciate the outcome, even though I detest the, “I’ll use it when it benefits my beliefs” kind of execution.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Congress Accidentally Legalized Weed Six Years Ago by lesuorac on Monday July 15, 2024 @06:26PM (#40972001)
Does it?

The original intent of the 5th amendment was that even your stuff couldn't be used against you in a court of law. The Founders were all wealthy businessmen committing treason; surely they'd have been in support of a very weak government when they later framed the Constitution.

The USDA is 1862 and some of the more famous events like "The Jungle" [1] leading to food safety laws are well after the Constitution. Getting sick an dieing was just a fact of the old times and I don't think people were like "lets band together and use government to make use get less sick".

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Meat_Inspection_Act#Hi...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Congress Accidentally Legalized Weed Six Years Ago by throwup238 on Monday July 15, 2024 @07:54PM (#40972518)
They were in support of a weak government when they wrote the Articles of Confederation. They wrote the Constitution a decade later because that turned out to be such a disaster.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Congress Accidentally Legalized Weed Six Years Ago by weberer on Tuesday July 16, 2024 @05:56AM (#40974995)
That was supposed to only affect interstate commerce according to the constitution, but a supreme court case in 1942 gave the federal government way more power than originally intended.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickard_v._Filburn

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Congress Accidentally Legalized Weed Six Years Ago by brudgers on Monday July 15, 2024 @07:39PM (#40972433)
no legal states within an easy drive

Texas borders New Mexico. Weed is legal there.

The problem is that to a first approximation Texas isn’t an easy drive from Texas.

[ Parent | on HN ]