Forty Two Members of the Washington State Legislature Sign Letter Calling For Feds To Re-Schedule Marijuana
I received the following message in my inbox from the great Philip Dawdy in Washington State:
“A bit ago I learned that today 42 WA state reps and senators signed a letter to the head of the DEA asking for rescheduling of cannabis. Among the signers was Rep. Timm Ormsby, brother of US Attorney for Eastern WA Michael Ormsby. I don’t think a state leg has done this before.”
You know what Philip, I agree, I don’t think a state legislature has every unified at this level to call for the rescheduling of marijuana. If someone out there has ever heard of this before, can you shoot me an e-mail? Either way, this is huge. I know there will be people out there saying that rescheduling marijuana to Schedule II doesn’t go far enough, it needs to be de-scheduled altogether. While I agree, I still think it’s a step in the right direction. Schedule II is better than Schedule I isn’t it? Marijuana is already rescheduled in my home state of Oregon, but it would be nice to see all states join in at the federal level.
The letter along with the legislators that signed it is typed below. Notice I didn’t say copied…it was in some funky version that required me to open it one page at a time and so I re-typed all of it! Enjoy:
Dear Administrator Leonhart:
We write in support of the petition that Governor Chafee and Governor Gregoire recently submitted to initiatie rulemaking proceedings for the reclassification of medical cannaibs (also known as marijuana) from Schedule I to Schedule II of the CSA.
We are also concerned that qualifying patients with serious medical conditions who could benefit from medical use of cannabis do not have a safe and consistent source of their medicine that has been recommended by a licensed health care professional in our state. The divergenge in state and federal law creates a situation where there is no regulated and safe system to supply legitimate patients who may need medical cannabis. More to the point, it is clear that the long-standing classification of medical use of cannabis in the United States as an illegal Schedule I substance is fundamentally flawed and should be changed. The federal government could quickly solve the issue if it were to reclassify cannabis for medical use from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule II drug so that it can be prescribed, which we believe the petition provides substantiated peer-reviewed scientific evidence to support.
The solution lies ultimately with the federal government. We urge the DEA to initiate rulemaking proceedings to reclassify medical cannabis as a Schedule II drug so qualifying patients who follow state law may obtain the medication they need through the traditional and safe method of physician prescribing and pharmacy dispensing.
Sincerely,
Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles
Washington State Senate – 36th District
Senator Karen Keiser
Washington State Senate – 33rd District
Representative Roger Goodman
Washington State House of Representatives – 45th District
Senator Rodney Tom
Washington State Senate – 48th District
Representative Dave Upthegrove
Washington State House of Representatives – 33rd District
Representative Joe Fitzgibbon
Washington State House of Representatives – 34th District
Representative Jim Moeller
Washington State House of Representatives – 49th District
Senator David Frockt
Washington State Senate – 46th District
Representative Paul Harris
Washington State House of Representatives – 17th District
Senator Margarita Prentice
Washington State Senate – 11th District
Senator Nick Harper
Washington State Senate – 38th District
Representative Timm Ormsby
Washington State House of Representatives – 3rd District
Representative John McCoy
Washington State House of Representatives – 38th District
Representative Andy Billig
Washington State House of Representatives – 3rd District
Representative Sherry Appleton
Washington State House of Representatives – 23rd District
Senator Sharon Nelson
Washington State Senate – 34th District
Senator Ed Murray
Washington State Senate – 43rd District
Representative Marcie Maxwell
Washington State House of Representatives – 41st District
Representative Jeannie Darneille
Washington State House of Representatives – 27th District
Senator Debbie Regala
Washington State Senate – 27th District
Representative Jamie Pedersen
Washington State House of Representatives – 43rd District
Representative Chris Reykdal
Washington State House of Representatives – 22nd District
Senator Steve Conway
Washington State Senate – 29th District
Senator Andy Hill
Washington State Senate – 45th District
Representative Same Hunt
Washington State House of Representatives – 22nd District
Representative Steve Tharinger
Washington State House of Representatives – 24th District
Senator Steve Litzow
Washington State Senate – 41st District
Representative Gerry Pollet
Washington State House of Representatives – 46th District
Representative Mary Lou Dickerson
Washington State House of Representatives – 36th District
Representative Laurie Jinkins
Washington State House of Representatives – 27th District
Representative Deborah Eddy
Washington State House of Representatives – 48th District
Senator Adam Kline
Washington State Senate – 37th District
Representative Cindy Ryu
Washington State House of Representatives – 32nd District
Representative Eileen Cody
Washington State House of Representatives – 34th District
Representative Judy Clibborn
Washington State House of Representatives – 41st District
Representative Cary Condotta
Washington State House of Representatives – 12th District
Representative Luis Moscoso
Washington State House of Representatives – 1st District
Senator Karen Fraser
Washington State Senate – 22nd District
Senator Joe Fain
Washington State Senate – 47th District
Senator Cheryl Pflug
Washington State Senate – 5th District
Senator Jerome Delvin
Washington State Senate – 8th District
cc:
The Honorable Barack Obama, President of the United States
The Honorable Eric Holder, US Attorney General
The Honorable Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary, US Department of Health and Human Services
The Honorable Margaret Hambur, MD, FDA Commissioner
The Honorable Chris Gregoire, Governor, State of Washington
