Senate Bill 2632

    Florida Senate - 1998        (NP)                      SR 2632

    By Senator Gutman





    34-1909-98

  1                    Senate Resolution No.     

  2         A resolution opposing the legalization of

  3         marijuana for medical purposes.

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  5         WHEREAS, the members of the Florida Senate are

  6  committed to protecting the health and safety of our citizens,

  7  especially our young people, and

  8         WHEREAS, state law enforcement officials are aware of

  9  individuals and groups who are part of a well-organized,

10  well-financed national movement to legalize marijuana for

11  alleged medical use and who may be targeting Florida for their

12  activities, and

13         WHEREAS, General Barry R. McCaffrey, Director of the

14  Office of National Drug Control Policy said on October 1,

15  1997, "At the heart of the federal response is the

16  preservation of the long-standing, established

17  medical-scientific process for ensuring that any substance

18  purporting to be a medicine must undergo the rigorous

19  evaluation of the scientific process. To exempt any substance

20  from this time-honored procedure will undermine the

21  established process that has long protected the American

22  public so well", and

23         WHEREAS, the American Medical Association, the American

24  Cancer Society, and other medical associations have rejected

25  marijuana as medicine, and

26         WHEREAS, research demonstrates that marijuana harms the

27  brain, heart, lungs, and immune system; limits learning,

28  memory, perception, and judgment; and impairs the ability to

29  drive a motor vehicle, and

30         WHEREAS, marijuana smoke typically contains over 400

31  carcinogenic compounds and may be addictive, and

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 1998        (NP)                      SR 2632
    34-1909-98




  1         WHEREAS, marijuana, as a Schedule I drug, has a high

  2  potential for abuse and there is no currently accepted medical

  3  use in treatment in the United States, and

  4         WHEREAS, to protect the public health and preserve the

  5  integrity of the medical-scientific process by which

  6  substances are approved as safe and effective medicines, all

  7  evaluations of the medical usefulness of any controlled

  8  substance should be conducted through the Congressionally

  9  established research and approval process managed by the

10  National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug

11  Administration, and

12         WHEREAS, a medical practitioner's action of

13  recommending or prescribing Schedule I controlled substances

14  such as marijuana is not consistent with the law nor public

15  interest and, furthermore, there are safe, effective, and

16  legal medical alternatives for those suffering with chronic

17  pain and other medical problems, and

18         WHEREAS, we believe this effort to be the precursor to

19  efforts to legalize all drugs of abuse and that legalization

20  would decrease the perception of risk associated with the use

21  of drugs of abuse, especially in the eyes of our young people,

22  and

23         WHEREAS, legalization of drugs of abuse will increase

24  the number of drug abusers, causing significant health,

25  social, and crime problems, and

26         WHEREAS, revenues that would purportedly be generated

27  by taxing sales of legalized drugs of abuse would be

28  outweighed by the increased health, social, and crime costs

29  associated with drug abuse, and

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    Florida Senate - 1998        (NP)                      SR 2632
    34-1909-98




  1         WHEREAS, drug use among teens in America has seen a

  2  threefold increase over the past 5 years despite the overall

  3  reduction of drug users, and

  4         WHEREAS, the juvenile proportion of total drug

  5  possession arrests grew by 51 percent in Florida between 1992

  6  and 1995, and a recent study shows that 31 percent of

  7  Floridians are "very worried" that their children could become

  8  addicted to drugs, NOW, THEREFORE,

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10  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:

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12         That the Florida Senate is opposed to any proposed

13  legislation or activities that are not consistent with

14  established national and state scheduling processes. This

15  specifically includes the use of marijuana or any other

16  illegal drug for any purpose in this state.

17         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Florida Senate will

18  actively and aggressively oppose any drug legalization efforts

19  not consistent with the foregoing which may be proferred now

20  or in the future.

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