Bill Text - HR11 (2020)

Urging Congress to remove marijuana as a schedule I drug and to support the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act.


Revision: Dec. 2, 2019, 12:40 p.m.

HR 11 - AS INTRODUCED

 

 

2020 SESSION

20-2472

04/05

 

HOUSE RESOLUTION 11

 

A RESOLUTION urging Congress to remove marijuana as a schedule I drug and to support the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act.

 

SPONSORS: Rep. Abramson, Rock. 20; Rep. Fowler, Rock. 20

 

COMMITTEE: State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs

 

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ANALYSIS

 

This bill urges the United States Congress to reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I drug to an alternative Schedule and to support the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act.

 

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20-2472

04/05

 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

 

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty

 

A RESOLUTION urging Congress to remove marijuana as a schedule I drug and to support the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act.

 

Whereas, marijuana and its derivatives remain classified as a Schedule I drug by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); and

Whereas, Schedule I drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse and include heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), marijuana or cannabis, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy), methaqualone (Quaalude), and peyote; and

Whereas, marijuana or cannabis and its congeners have been studied worldwide outside the United States for years and have shown efficacy for various conditions, such as wasting syndrome, as an antinauseant in those taking chemotherapy or HIV medications, glaucoma (reduces intraocular pressure), epilepsy (anti-seizure properties), migraine headaches, Crohn's disease, addiction to opiates or opioid and other types of pain, and anxiety; and

Whereas, marijuana or cannabis is presently classified by the DEA as a Schedule I drug wherein the possession, sale, or utilization can trigger federal prosecution statues, including federal forfeiture provisions; and

Whereas, federal legislation on marijuana or cannabis violates the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people;” and

Whereas federal enforcement of marijuana prohibition has resulted in the regular violation of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment rights of the citizens of the United States, as well as the deaths of hundreds of innocent bystanders; and

Whereas 62 percent of Americans now favor re-legalization of marijuana, according to Pew Research, and a CBS News poll showed support at 65 percent, and that no law can be enforced which the vast majority of Americans do not support; and

Whereas, concerns about the criminality and forfeiture provisions in federal law impede traditional banking institutions from doing business with potential clients cultivating, researching, selling, or utilizing marijuana or cannabis and its derivatives, therefore making marijuana commerce very difficult; and

Whereas, the inability to use traditional banking institutions impedes local and state government from adequately monitoring true marijuana or cannabis utilization and shortchanges the respective taxes owed to taxing agencies, potentially costing state and local governments billions of dollars in lost tax income; and

Whereas, since marijuana or cannabis businesses are unable to legally use traditional banking institutions, many vendors resort to the black market and involvement of organized crime making communities less safe; and

Whereas, marijuana or cannabis and its derivatives cannot be legally studied by research institutions if it remains a Schedule I drug, thereby prohibiting newly discovered and verifiable pharmacological attributes of marijuana or cannabis and its derivatives, which otherwise may enhance the quality of life of those that could truly benefit from its use; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives:

That the general court urges the Congress of the United States to pass a law to reschedule marijuana, cannabis, and its derivatives from a Schedule I drug to an alternative schedule, therefore allowing the legal research and development of marijuana or cannabis for medical use and allowing for the legal commerce of marijuana or cannabis so that businesses dealing with marijuana or cannabis can use traditional banks or financial institutions for their banking needs, which would result in providing a legal vehicle for those businesses to pay their taxes, including, but not limited to, payroll taxes, unsecured property taxes, and applicable taxes on the products sold in accordance with state and local laws; and

That the general court urges the President of the United States to sign such legislation; and

That the general court urges Congress to support H.R. 1588, Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2019; and  

That the house clerk transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, and to the New Hampshire congressional delegation.