Rhode Island, Washington governors encourage marijuana reclassification

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
12/1/2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Federal crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries prompts action

Lincoln Chafee and Chris Gregoire, the governors of Rhode Island and Washington have called upon the Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug. The reclassification would allow it to be dispensed for medicinal use. The announcement is the latest development in a larger struggle to curb the threat of a federal crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries.

Lincoln Chafee and Chris Gregoire, the governors of Rhode Island and Washington have called upon the Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Rhode Island and Washington are just two of 16 states that have legalized the use of medical marijuana. However, in recent months both states have faced ramped-up enforcement actions from federal prosecutors.

In California, U.S. attorneys have shuttered multiple state-licensed marijuana dispensaries that had been operating in accordance with local laws and government for as long as 15 years.

"The divergence in state and federal law creates a situation where there is no regulated and safe system to supply legitimate patients who may need medical cannabis," the governors wrote in their letter. "State and local governments cannot adopt a regulatory framework to ensure a safe supply is available for - and limited to - legitimate medical use without putting their employees at risk of violating federal law."

The governors wish to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug. They want to reclassify marijuana along with cocaine, morphine and opium. These are drugs that have a high potential for abuse and addiction - but can also be dispensed for medical uses. Marijuana is currently classified as Schedule I drug, along with heroin, LSD and mescaline.

Chafee earlier this year declined to move forward with a state medical marijuana law after federal prosecutors said state pot shops would be subject to persecution under federal law.

Such an ill-defined border between state and federal law should not be allowed to continue, the lawmakers wrote in their letter.

"A public rulemaking process would allow all interested parties to contribute their comments and expertise, and provide a full record for decision," the governors concluded.

"These interested parties include patients and medical professionals and the sixteen states and the District of Columbia, or nearly one-third of the nation's population, that have decriminalized limited possession and use of cannabis for serious medical conditions, and at least ten other states are considering similar measures."

Medical marijuana activists on Wednesday lauded the governors' actions, but cautioned that such efforts should not serve as a substitute for advancing medical marijuana laws at the state level.

� 2011, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Keywords: Medial marijuana, reclassification, drug use

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1 - 4 of 4 Comments

kevin mak
1 year ago
Im sorry these comments are completely misinformed. Cannabis IS NOT A GATEWAY DRUG, 1 out of every 100 people that consume cannabis move on to cocaine. The so called "gateway theory" was simply a result of the reefer madness. Fact noone has ever died from cannabis and it is one of the most medicinally beneficial plants period. The human body was designed to have its endo-cannabanoid system activated. To all the people worrying if a small amount of people are abusing mmj shouldn't you be worried about prescription drug abuse? seriously get your priorities straight. Pharmaceuticals are a HUGE problem, as oppose to medical marijuana which can help sick people without giving them dangerous prescription drugs. The stigmas we have in this country are so sad .
Theresa H
1 year ago
What will the criteria for dispensing this "medical marijuana" be? If medical marijuana doesn't make you "high," but keeps you "normal," one might think: "fine." But if it is dispensed so that people can "legally" get "high," that's going to create a bigger problem than we already have with "illegal" drugs. There's a much deeper problem in all this that is not being discussed: WHY do people want to get "high." That's what should be discussed...!
MikeKC
1 year ago
Medicinal marijuana is a scam just like global warming. It's a ruse for potheads to get marijuana legalized. Marijuana is not the safe drug that potheads would have you believe. It is the gateway drug that leads to abuse of cocaine and methamphetamine. Take a look at the facts how cocaine and methamphetamine abuse ruins peoples lives. There is no denying it. See also the rebound of heroin abuse due to its cheap availablity. Heroin is being abused by teenagers in middle class America and they are dying from ODs.

Everybody should be calling or writing their congressman, senators and governors requesting the continued schedule I classification of marijuana and keeping it illegal. Keep the potheads away from your children, their lives depend on it.
malcolm kyle
1 year ago
An appeal to all Prohibitionists:

Most of us are aware by now that individuals who use illegal drugs are going to get high, 'no matter what.' So why do you not prefer they acquire them in stores that check IDs and pay taxes? Gifting the market in narcotics to ruthless criminals, foreign terrorists and corrupt law enforcement officials is seriously compromising our future. If you remotely believe that people will one day quit using any of these 'at present' illegal drugs, then you are exhibiting a degree of naivety parallel only with those poor deluded wretches who voluntarily drank the poisoned Kool-Aid in Jonestown.

Even if you cannot stand the thought of people using drugs, there is absolutely nothing you, or any government, can do to stop them. We have spent 40 years and over a trillion dollars on this dangerous farce. Practically everybody is now aware that Prohibition will not suddenly and miraculously start showing different results. So why do you wish to continue with a policy that has proven itself to be a poison in the veins of our once so proud & free nation? Do you actually think you may have something to lose If we were to start basing drug policy on science & logic instead of ignorance, hate and lies?

Maybe you're a police officer, a prison guard or a local politician. Possibly you're scared of losing employment, overtime-pay, the many kick-backs and those regular fat bribes. But what good will any of that do you once our society has followed Mexico over the dystopian abyss of dismembered bodies, vats of acid and marauding thugs carrying gold-plated AK-47s with leopard-skinned gunstocks?

Kindly allow us to forgo the next level of your sycophantic prohibition-engendered mayhem.

Prohibition Prevents Regulation : Legalize, Regulate and Tax!

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