To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Take a Stand for State's Rights and Personal Freedom: Co-sponsor HR 2306
I’m writing to urge you to co-sponsor legislation that seeks to amend the federal government’s classification of marijuana under the United States Controlled Substances Act.
HR 2306, entitled the ‘Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011,’ prohibits the federal government from prosecuting adults who use or possess personal use amounts of marijuana by removing the plant and its primary psychoactive constituent, THC, from the five schedules of the United States Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Under present law, all varieties of the marijuana plant are defined as illicit Schedule I controlled substances, defined as possessing ‘a high potential for abuse,’ and ‘no currently accepted medical use in treatment.’ This classification is not supported by either existing science or public opinion.
HR 2306 mimics changes enacted by Congress to repeal the federal prohibition of alcohol. Passage of this measure would remove the existing conflict between federal law and the laws of those sixteen states that already allow for the limited use of marijuana under a physicians’ supervision. It would also permit state governments that wish to fully legalize and regulate the responsible use, possession, production, and intrastate distribution of marijuana for all adults to be free to do so without federal interference. In recent years, several states — including California, Massachusetts, and Washington — have considered taking such actions either legislatively or via the ballot initiative process, and it is likely that several additional states will be considering this option in 2012. The citizens and lawmakers of these states should be free to explore these alternate policies — including medicalization, decriminalization, and/or legalization — without running afoul of the federal law.
Over the past 70+ years, the federal criminalization of marijuana has failed to reduce the public’s demand or access to cannabis, and it has imposed enormous fiscal and human costs upon the American people. Further, this policy promotes disrespect for the law and reinforces ethnic and generational divides between the public and law enforcement. Since 1970, police have arrested over 20 million American citizens for marijuana offenses — nearly 90 percent of which were prosecuted for the personal possession of marijuana, not marijuana trafficking or sale. Yet today federal surveys indicate that the public, including America’s young people, have greater access to marijuana — including stronger varieties of marijuana — than ever before. It is time to stop ceding control of the marijuana market to unregulated, criminal entrepreneurs and allow states to enact common sense regulations that seek to govern the adult use of marijuana in a fashion similar to alcohol.
13 of your colleagues from both sides of the aisle have already signed on to support state's rights and personal freedom. Ask yourself, after 70 years of failure, isn't it time for an alternative approach?
That is why I am urging you to co-sponsor HR 2306: ‘Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011.’
HR 2306, entitled the ‘Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011,’ prohibits the federal government from prosecuting adults who use or possess personal use amounts of marijuana by removing the plant and its primary psychoactive constituent, THC, from the five schedules of the United States Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Under present law, all varieties of the marijuana plant are defined as illicit Schedule I controlled substances, defined as possessing ‘a high potential for abuse,’ and ‘no currently accepted medical use in treatment.’ This classification is not supported by either existing science or public opinion.
HR 2306 mimics changes enacted by Congress to repeal the federal prohibition of alcohol. Passage of this measure would remove the existing conflict between federal law and the laws of those sixteen states that already allow for the limited use of marijuana under a physicians’ supervision. It would also permit state governments that wish to fully legalize and regulate the responsible use, possession, production, and intrastate distribution of marijuana for all adults to be free to do so without federal interference. In recent years, several states — including California, Massachusetts, and Washington — have considered taking such actions either legislatively or via the ballot initiative process, and it is likely that several additional states will be considering this option in 2012. The citizens and lawmakers of these states should be free to explore these alternate policies — including medicalization, decriminalization, and/or legalization — without running afoul of the federal law.
Over the past 70+ years, the federal criminalization of marijuana has failed to reduce the public’s demand or access to cannabis, and it has imposed enormous fiscal and human costs upon the American people. Further, this policy promotes disrespect for the law and reinforces ethnic and generational divides between the public and law enforcement. Since 1970, police have arrested over 20 million American citizens for marijuana offenses — nearly 90 percent of which were prosecuted for the personal possession of marijuana, not marijuana trafficking or sale. Yet today federal surveys indicate that the public, including America’s young people, have greater access to marijuana — including stronger varieties of marijuana — than ever before. It is time to stop ceding control of the marijuana market to unregulated, criminal entrepreneurs and allow states to enact common sense regulations that seek to govern the adult use of marijuana in a fashion similar to alcohol.
13 of your colleagues from both sides of the aisle have already signed on to support state's rights and personal freedom. Ask yourself, after 70 years of failure, isn't it time for an alternative approach?
That is why I am urging you to co-sponsor HR 2306: ‘Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011.’
Why is this important?
For the first time since 1937, lawmakers have introduced a bill into the House of Representatives to end federal marijuana prohibition. Over the past 70+ years, the federal criminalization of marijuana has:
1) Failed to reduce the public’s demand for or access to cannabis.
2) Imposed enormous fiscal and human costs upon the American people.
3) Promoted disrespect for the law.
4) Reinforced ethnic and generational divides between the public and law enforcement.
After seven decades of failure, it is time for an alternative approach.
1) Failed to reduce the public’s demand for or access to cannabis.
2) Imposed enormous fiscal and human costs upon the American people.
3) Promoted disrespect for the law.
4) Reinforced ethnic and generational divides between the public and law enforcement.
After seven decades of failure, it is time for an alternative approach.