To: President Donald Trump, The California State House, The California State Senate, Governor Gavin Newsom, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate

President Obama – Respect Voters’ Marijuana Initiatives

President Obama is considering his administration’s response to Colorado and Washington’s marijuana legalization initiatives. According to a Dec. 6 article in the New York Times, none of them allow for the states to implement their new laws without some kind of drastic federal intervention. Drafted and submitted for approval by the Brownie Mary Democratic Club, the resolution was approved on December10, 2012 by a vote of 17-2 by the Riverside County Democratic Central Committee. It requests the President to consider options that respect the will of the voters of Colorado and Washington, end federal interference in states that have passed medical marijuana laws and to appoint a commission to look into marijuana law reform.

Why is this important?

WHEREAS 18 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws legalizing the use of cannabis when recommended by a physician, and

Whereas Colorado and Washington in 2012 passed laws legalizing the recreational use of cannabis, and

Whereas over 825,000 Americans are caught up in the criminal justice system every year for marijuana law violations, and

Whereas the United States spends over $20 billion a year enforcing marijuana prohibition laws, and

Whereas thousands of people are murdered every year involving the smuggling of illegal drugs into the United States and marijuana accounts for over half of these illegal drugs, and

Whereas polls show overwhelming support for the medicinal use of cannabis and majority support for legalization of marijuana, and

Whereas marijuana prohibition laws are racially enforced with a far larger percentage of African-Americans and Hispanics convicted and imprisoned for marijuana prohibition offenses than their white counterparts even though marijuana use in their communities is no more than in white communities, and

Whereas college students lose their college grants and scholarships if found to be using marijuana,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Riverside County Democratic Central Committee requests:

President Obama to allow the newly enacted marijuana legalization laws in Colorado and Washington to go into effect with no federal interference, and

President Obama to end the Department of Justice interference and raids by federal agencies in states with medical marijuana laws, and

A comprehensive study be immediately undertaken to produce recommendations for reform of our nation’s marijuana prohibition laws.