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Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to DENY OR DISPARAGE others (rights) retained by the people.

Keep reading...

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

You claim:

Every U.S. citizen has the "retained" right to ingest the chemical of their choice.

I claim that the power to regulate chemicals and their ingestion is reserved to the States and to the people. Who is right?

In addition, there is no constitutional basis to the contrary.

Sure there is. First, the Constitution governs the Federal Government, not the states (see Amendment X, above). If judges would simply read the plain text of the First Amendment (which clearly mentions Congress and no other government entity), we wouldn't be having the 10 Commandment debate, either. This means that the states are free to prohibit drugs.

You'll notice that Congress isn't granted to authority to prohibit rape, murder, theft, or a host of other crimes, either. Does that mean that you believe that these are rights retained by the people or do you believe that these are powers left to the states?

Second, the Constitution grants congress the authority:

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

I'll agree, up front, that this power is used to broadly but unless the chemical you are ingesting is created locally from local components, the odds are good that one of these is involved.

And if you do not think chemcial ingestation of your choice is a "retained" right, it is only a matter of time then, before you will not be able to ingest a cheeseburger and fries without FDA approval.

Ahhh, the old "slippery slope" argument.

"I claim that the power to regulate chemicals and their ingestion is reserved to the States and to the people. Who is right?"

First, I would like to say that I thought your complete response to my post was well thought out and presented coherently.

As I had suggested to another Freeper who responded to my post concerning my contention that 9th amendment is the constitutional basis for the right to ingest the chemical of our choice, that Freeper also responded to my contentio by quoting the 10th amendment as the constitutional basis for the "states" to prohibit that right, I then reminded that Freeper that the 14th amendment appears to have rendered the 10th amendment superfluous.

With that being said, I would like to ask you, how do you reconcile the 10th amendment with the 14th amendment?

Your reply is welcomed.