TheTennessee Court of Appeals upheld the findings of a county court that the crack tax passed in January 2005 was unconstitutional as it violated the Fifth Amendment.
The tax, under a law passed by the Tennessee General Assembly in January 2005, was applied to illegal substances including cocaine, marijuana, and moonshine. A county court found the law unconstitutional because it violated the drug dealer's Fifth Amendment right to protection from self-incrimination. The Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's decision, unanimously declaring the law to be "arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable, and therefore invalid under the constitution of this state." 
