BILL REQ. #:  S-3889.1 

Read first time 01/11/2006.   Referred to Committee on Health & Long-Term Care.

     TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, Congress has devised a closed regulatory system making it unlawful to manufacture, distribute, dispense, or possess any controlled substance except in a manner authorized by the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), 21 U.S.C. Secs. 841(a) (1), 844(a); and
     WHEREAS, Congress has classified marijuana as a Schedule I drug making the manufacture, distribution, or possession of marijuana a criminal offense, with the sole exception being the use of the drug as part of a Food and Drug Administration preapproved research study; and
     WHEREAS, The Supreme Court of the United States on June 6, 2005, held in the case of Gonzales v. Raich that Congress's Commerce Clause authority includes the power to prohibit the local cultivation and use of marijuana in compliance with California law; and
     WHEREAS, Under Gonzales v. Raich, states may not prohibit the federal government from prosecuting medical marijuana patients under federal law; and
     WHEREAS, The California law dealt with the intrastate, noncommercial cultivation and possession of cannabis for personal medical purposes as recommended by the patient's physician; and
     WHEREAS, There are currently at least eleven states, including Washington, that authorize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes; and
     WHEREAS, Congress's Commerce Clause authority should be exercised in a way that protects historic spheres of state sovereignty from excessive federal encroachment and maintains the distribution of power fundamental to our federalist system of government; and
     WHEREAS, One of federalism's chief virtues is that it promotes innovation by allowing for the possibility that a single state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory to try novel social and economic experiments -- "experiments in liberty" -- without risk to the rest of the country, and our federalist system, properly understood, should allow the growing number of states providing for medicinal marijuana to decide for themselves how to safeguard the health and welfare of their citizens; and
     WHEREAS, State legislation limits the number of medical marijuana users and isolates activities relating to medicinal marijuana from the illicit market, and medical marijuana has not created a social or criminal problem in any of the states that authorize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes; and
     WHEREAS, The Supreme Court of the United States in Gonzales v. Raich noted that "perhaps even more important than legal avenues is the democratic process, in which the voices of the voters allied with these respondents may one day be heard in the halls of Congress"; and
     WHEREAS, No one argues that permitting use of other types of drugs under medical supervision has undermined the CSA's restrictions and purposes;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully request that Congress amend federal drug laws to allow the states to decide for themselves whether to allow marijuana to be used for medical purposes so long as it is for personal, medicinal use only and is not bought, sold, or transferred for interstate commerce.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.