THE SENATE                           S.C.R. NO.            183
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION
  URGING THE UNITED STATES DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY TO CONSIDER
    RESCHEDULING MEDICINAL CANNABIS (AKA MARIJUANA) AND THE
    UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO CONSIDER PASSING LEGISLATION
    RESCHEDULING MEDICINAL CANNABIS.



 1        WHEREAS, over sixty United States professional
 2   organizations including:  the National Association for Public
 3   Health Policy, American Public Health Association, American
 4   Society of Addiction Medicine, American Journal of Psychiatry,
 5   Federation of American Scientists, and the New England Journal
 6   of Medicine have concluded that many patients suffering from
 7   AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, Tourette's Syndrome, and many other
 8   specific debilitating diseases, as well as traumatic physical
 9   injuries, are finding relief from chronic symptoms and
10   debilitating pain through the use of marijuana as medicine; and
11   
12        WHEREAS, many patients in Hawai`i have testified to the
13   efficacy of marijuana in treating their own chronic symptoms
14   and debilitating pain; and
15   
16        WHEREAS, such patients are currently subject to federal
17   criminal prosecution for using marijuana to relieve their
18   symptoms and suffering; and
19   
20        WHEREAS, medical doctors who are aware of the positive
21   effects of marijuana may not prescribe or "recommend" it as
22   medicine without fear of criminal prosecution due to
23   marijuana's placement as a Schedule I federally controlled
24   substance; and
25   
26        WHEREAS, no state, including Hawai`i, is obligated to make
27   conduct that has been made criminal under federal law (such as
28   using marijuana to relieve severe medical conditions) a crime
29   under state law; and
30   
31        WHEREAS, thirty-six states have officially recognized the
32   value of marijuana as medicine, and voters in Alaska, Arizona,
33   California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington have
34   overwhelmingly passed initiatives allowing the medicinal use of
35   marijuana despite prevailing federal law; now, therefore,

 
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                                  S.C.R. NO.            183
                                                        S.D. 1
                                                        

 
 1   
 2        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature
 3   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 1999, the House of
 4   Representatives concurring, that the United States Drug
 5   Enforcement Agency is urged to consider rescheduling cannabis
 6   as other than a Class I controlled substance, and the United
 7   States Congress is urged to consider passing legislation that
 8   would reschedule cannabis as other than a Class I controlled
 9   substance; and
10   
11        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
12   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the
13   United States, the Speaker of the United States House of
14   Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, and
15   members of Hawaii's congressional delegation.