THE SENATE                           S.C.R. NO.            183
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION
  URGING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO PASS LEGISLATION ALLOWING
    INDIVIDUAL STATES TO DETERMINE THEIR OWN POLICIES WITH
    REGARD TO MEDICINAL CANNABIS (AKA MARIJUANA).



 1        WHEREAS, over sixty United States professional
 2   organizations including:  the National Association for Public
 3   Health Policy, American Academy of Family Physicians, American
 4   Public Health Association, American Society of Addiction
 5   Medicine, California Medical Association, American Journal of
 6   Psychiatry, Federation of American Scientists, and the New
 7   England Journal of Medicine have concluded that many patients
 8   suffering from AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, Tourette's Syndrome, and
 9   many other specific debilitating diseases, as well as traumatic
10   physical injuries, are finding relief from chronic symptoms and
11   debilitating pain through the use of marijuana as medicine; and
12   
13        WHEREAS, many patients in Hawai`i have testified to the
14   efficacy of marijuana in treating their own chronic symptoms
15   and debilitating pain; and
16   
17        WHEREAS, such patients are currently subject to federal
18   criminal prosecution for using marijuana to relieve their
19   symptoms and suffering; and
20   
21        WHEREAS, medical doctors who are aware of the positive
22   effects of marijuana may not prescribe or "recommend" it as
23   medicine without fear of criminal prosecution due to
24   marijuana's placement as a Schedule I federally controlled
25   substance; and
26   
27        WHEREAS, no state, including Hawai`i, is obligated to make
28   conduct that has been made criminal under federal law (such as
29   using marijuana to relieve severe medical conditions) a crime
30   under state law; and
31   
32        WHEREAS, thirty-six states have officially recognized the
33   value of marijuana as medicine and voters in Alaska, Arizona,
34   California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington have
35   overwhelmingly passed initiatives allowing the medicinal use of
36   marijuana despite prevailing federal law; now, therefore,
37   

 
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                                     S.C.R. NO.         183
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature
 2   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 1999, the House of
 3   Representatives concurring, that the United States Congress is
 4   urged to pass House Resolution 912 and other similar
 5   legislation that would allow states to determine their own
 6   medicinal cannabis policies without federal interference; and
 7   
 8        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
 9   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the
10   United States, the Speaker of the United States House of
11   Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, and
12   members of Hawaii's congressional delegation.
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16                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________