Second Regular Session
Sixty-first General Assembly
LLS NO. R980941.01 JGG
STATE OF COLORADO
BY REPRESENTATIVE Anderson;
also SENATOR Wells.
JUDICIARY
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 98-1042
WHEREAS, We the elected representatives of the citizens
of the state of Colorado are committed to protecting the health
and safety of our citizens, especially our children; and
WHEREAS, Our state is now under attack by groups
of persons who are part of a wellorganized and wellfinanced
national movement to legalize marijuana, which groups are targeting
Colorado by organizing an initiative campaign to place on the
ballot for the next general election a measure to legalize marijuana
in the Constitution of Colorado; and
WHEREAS, One initiative petition that is currently
being circulated misleads the voters of Colorado to believe that
there are medicinal uses for marijuana; however, the American
Medical Association, the American Cancer Society, and other medical
associations have rejected marijuana as a medicine; and
WHEREAS, Research demonstrates that marijuana actually
harms the brain, heart, lungs, and immune system and that it impairs
learning, memory, perception, judgment, and the ability to operate
a motor vehicle; and
WHEREAS, Marijuana is classified as a Schedule I
controlled substance under federal law, indicating that it has
a high potential for abuse and that it is recognized as a gateway
substance of abuse that frequently leads to the abuse of other
drugs, including cocaine, "crack" cocaine, methamphetamine
("speed"), and heroin; and
WHEREAS, There are safe, effective, legal, medical
alternatives for those suffering with chronic pain and other medical
problems; and
WHEREAS, The legalization of marijuana would decrease
the perception of risk associated with the abuse of drugs, especially
in the eyes of our youth; and
WHEREAS, The proportion of drug possession arrests
attributable to juveniles has increased by three hundred twentyseven
percent in Colorado between the years 1991 and 1996; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives
of the Sixtyfirst General Assembly of the State of Colorado,
the Senate concurring herein:
That the General Assembly hereby opposes any effort
to mandate in the Constitution of Colorado that marijuana be described
as medicine or that the possession and use of it be decriminalized
for medicinal or any other purpose.
Be It Further Resolved, That any information provided to the general public that attempts to mislead the public into believing that marijuana has medicinal uses for which less harmful, legal, and medical substitutes could be utilized is hereby rejected.