073837P.pdf   12/22/2009  David Monson  v.  Drug Enforcement
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  07-3837
   District of North Dakota - Bismarck   
   [PUBLISHED] [Bowman, Author, with Melloy and Smith, Circuit Judges]
   Civil case - Controlled Substances Act. District court did not err in
   concluding the cannabis plants plaintiffs proposed to cultivate fell within
   the Controlled Substances Act's definition of marijuana and that their
   planned cultivation of industrial hemp under North Dakota state law was
   subject to federal regulation under the Controlled Substances Act;
   plaintiffs had standing to challenge the Act because they established they
   were targets of DEA action and showed actual injury sufficient to confer
   standing; their claims were ripe for review, and the district court did not
   err in finding that further efforts to exhaust the DEA's administrative
   procedures would be futile; Congress has the authority under the
   Commerce Clause to regulate marijuana that is grown on a large scale for
   the undeniably commercial purpose of generating products for sale in
   interstate commerce; Congress's decision to regulate the manufacture of
   all marijuana plants - regardless of the grower's ultimate purpose - was a
   rational means of achieving the congressional purpose of controlling the
   supply and demand for controlled substances and state law restrictions,
   such as prohibiting the plant from leaving the farmer's property, did not
   place the cultivation beyond Congress's reach.