Whereas, the overall situation regarding the use of
drugs in our society and the crime and misery that accompany it has continued
to deteriorate for several decades; and
Whereas, our society has continued to attempt, at
enormous financial cost and loss of civil liberties, to resolve drug abuse
problems through the criminal justice system, with the accompanying increase of
prisons and numbers of inmates; and
Whereas, the present system has spawned a cycle of
hostility by the incarceration of disproportionate numbers of
African-Americans, Hispanics, and other minority groups; and
Whereas, in our society's zeal to pursue our
criminal approach, legitimate medical uses for the relief of pain and suffering
of patients have been suppressed;
Therefore be it resolved that our society must
recognize drug use and abuse as the medical and social problems that they are,
and that they must be treated with medical and social solutions; and
Further be it resolved that an objective commission
be immediately empowered by the President and by Congress to recommend
revisions of the drug laws of these United States in order to reduce the harm
our current polices are causing.
CITY, STATE,
ZIP
