Category: Civil Rights

Region: United States of America

Target audience: government, congress, senate, president, United States, legislature

Web site: http://xcannabis.com

Description/History:Schedule I is the only category of controlled substances that may not be prescribed by a physician. Under 21 U.S.C. § 812b, drugs must meet three criteria in order to be placed in Schedule I:

* The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
* The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
* There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.

In 1970, Congress placed cannabis into Schedule I on the advice of Assistant Secretary of Health Roger O. Egeberg. His letter to Harley O. Staggers, Chairman of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, indicates that the classification was intended to be provisional:

Dear Mr. Chairman: In a prior communication, comments requested by your committee on the scientific aspects of the drug classification scheme incorporated in H.R. 18583 were provided. This communication is concerned with the proposed classification of marijuana.

It is presently classed in schedule I(C) along with its active constituents, the tetrahydrocannibinols and other psychotropic drugs.

Some question has been raised whether the use of the plant itself produces “severe psychological or physical dependence” as required by a schedule I or even schedule II criterion. Since there is still a considerable void in our knowledge of the plant and effects of the active drug contained in it, our recommendation is that marijuana be retained within schedule I at least until the completion of certain studies now underway to resolve the issue. If those studies make it appropriate for the Attorney General to change the placement of marijuana to a different schedule, he may do so in accordance with the authority provided under section 201 of the bill. . .

Sincerely yours, (signed) Roger O. Egeberg, M.D.[1]

The reference to “certain studies” is to the then-forthcoming National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse. In 1972, the Commission released a report favoring decriminalization of cannabis. The Richard Nixon administration took no action to implement the recommendation, however. A protracted struggle ensued in which cannabis reform activists began working through all three branches of government to reschedule the drug.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_rescheduling_in_the_United_States

Petition:

As a tax citizen and a tax payer of the United States of America, we insist that our government stop throwing our money away at the failure of a drug war.

We demand that the government listen to the will of the people, and respect state laws. Which include those laws concerning marijuana.
We ask for responsible legalization that includes regulation and taxation. Age limits should be enforced much like tobacco and alcohol, as well as driving impairment laws.

We demand that all people who have been arrested for marijuana in the last 40 years have their records expunged due to the fact that the government should not be dictating what a responsible adult puts in his or her own body.

We are making it known that we the people mean more than we the corporations in our constitution and we expect that our will in the matter of marijuana will be respected by our public servants!

By signing this petition you are telling our public servants to END PROHIBITION.