House Bill 9437
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HR 9437
By Representative Futch
1 House Resolution
2 A resolution opposing drug legalization.
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4 WHEREAS, we the elected representatives of the citizens
5 of the State of Florida are committed to protecting the health
6 and safety of our citizens, especially our young people, and
7 WHEREAS, our state is now aware of individuals and
8 groups who are part of a well-organized, well-financed
9 national movement to legalize marijuana for alleged medical
10 use and who may be targeting this state for their activities,
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12 WHEREAS, General Barry R. McCaffrey, Director of the
13 Office of National Drug Control Policy, said on October 1,
14 1997, "At the heart of the Federal response is the
15 preservation of the long-standing, established
16 medical-scientific process for ensuring that any substance
17 purporting to be a medicine must undergo the rigorous
18 evaluation of the scientific process. To exempt any substance
19 from this time honored procedure will undermine the
20 established process that has long protected the American
21 public so well," and
22 WHEREAS, the American Medical Association, American
23 Cancer Society, and other medical associations have rejected
24 marijuana as medicine, and
25 WHEREAS, research demonstrates that marijuana harms the
26 brain, heart, lungs, and immune system, limits learning,
27 memory, perception, and judgment, and impairs the ability to
28 drive a motor vehicle; and marijuana smoke typically contains
29 over 400 carcinogenic compounds and may be addictive, and
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HR 9437
531-160-98
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 there are safe, effective, legal medical
16 alternatives for those suffering with chronic pain and other
17 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 be purportedly 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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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HR 9437
531-160-98
1 WHEREAS, drug use among teens in the United States has
2 shown a threefold increase over the past 5 years despite the
3 overall reduction of drug users, and
4 WHEREAS, the juvenile proportion of total drug
5 possession arrests grew by 51 percent in this state between
6 1992 and 1995, and a recent study shows that 31 percent of
7 Floridians are "very worried" about their children becoming
8 addicted to drugs, NOW, THEREFORE,
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10 Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of
11 Florida:
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13 That the Florida House of Representatives is opposed to
14 any activities or proposed legislation that are not consistent
15 with established national and state scheduling processes, and
16 specifically opposes marijuana and any other illegal drug for
17 use for any purpose in this state.
18 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Florida House of
19 Representatives will actively and aggressively oppose any such
20 drug legalization efforts not consistent with the foregoing
21 which may be proffered now or in the future.
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