The Constitution Party on drugs

Contrary to a reader’s comment, the Constitution Party does not support the War on Drugs. Their actual stance is as follows:



The Constitution Party will uphold the right of states and localities to restrict access to drugs and to enforce such restrictions in appropriate cases with application of the death penalty. We support legislation to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the United States from foreign sources. As a matter of self-defense, retaliatory policies including embargoes, sanctions, and tariffs, should be considered. At the same time, we will take care to prevent violations of the Constitutional and civil rights of American citizens. Searches without probable cause and seizures without due process must be prohibited, and the presumption of innocence must be preserved.

It is not identical to the very conservative Libertarian position, which seeks to return the situation to that of the period between 1789-1914, when drug use was a matter of individual choice. Of course, they didn’t have opium or cocaine or marijuana back then…. In any event, the Constitution Party is clearly opposed to the anti-constitutional Federal Drug War. I lean towards the Libertarian position myself, but I regard the Constitutional’s position to be very worthy of merit except for the bit about the death penalty, which I oppose on the basis of putting up every possible obstacle to the State being permitted to kill its citizens. The bit about the illegal drug flow is redundant, as the Constitution clearly gives the Federal government the power to regulate imports, legal or otherwise.