WHEREAS, the International Association of Chiefs of Police meeting at its 105th Annual Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, passed a resolution strongly opposing ballot initiatives to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes, as these initiatives are inconsistent with established scientific and medical protocols; and

WHEREAS, the International Association of Chiefs of Police meeting at its 104th Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, passed a resolution urging all governments and governing bodies to vigorously protect the health and safety of their citizens through an adherence to established medical and scientific criteria as the sole basis for determining when a dangerous drug has a bona fide medical purpose; and

WHEREAS, the International Association of Chiefs of Police meeting at its 103rd Annual Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, passed a resolution strongly opposing ballot initiatives in Arizona (Proposition 200) and California (Proposition 215) that would legalize the distribution and/or use of Schedule I drugs; and

WHEREAS, one reason for continuing opposition to such ballot initiatives, particularly, is the fact that not one national health organization accepts marijuana or other Schedule I drugs as a medicine, and science-based research indicates that marijuana or other Schedule I drugs have no medical benefit whatsoever; and it is neither rational nor compassionate to provide a harmful, addictive drug with no scientifically proven medical efficacy; and

WHEREAS, the National Institute of Medicine, in a recently completed study of the medical benefits of marijuana, has reaffirmed that the effects of cannabinoids on the symptoms studied are generally modest, and smoking marijuana results in the delivery of harmful substances, including most of those toxic substances found in tobacco smoke; and this study also affirmed that there are more effective medical delivery systems than smoking marijuana; and this study reaffirms our belief that modern medicine does not advocate the smoking of toxic substances and the inhaling of their smoke; and

WHEREAS, the citizens of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington have voted to approve the use, cultivation or accessibility of marijuana for medicinal purposes; and

WHEREAS, the states of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Washington, and New Hampshire, and the District of Columbia, have pending legislation regarding the use, cultivation or accessibility of marijuana for medicinal purposes; and

WHEREAS, the states of Alaska and Nevada have initiatives regarding the use, accessibility and regulation of marijuana on the ballot for Election 2000; and

WHEREAS, we continue to believe that the best process to determine the medical efficacy of any substance is through an established medical and scientific testing and evaluation system that has served the citizens of the United States well and resulted in the highest medical services in the world; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, duly assembled at its 107th Annual Conference in San Diego, California, reaffirms its opposition to any attempts to replace the established medical and scientific criteria for determining when a dangerous drug has a bona fide medical purpose and, therefore, opposes these laws and initiatives as inconsistent with established scientific and medical protocols for establishing the medical value of dangerous drugs; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police strongly urges that all citizens recognize that legalization will lead to greater availability of drugs, and increased use of drugs, associated criminal behavior, and costs to society and vote against such initiatives and act to discourage the effectiveness of existing legislation that legalizes the distribution, use and regulation of Schedule I drugs.