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, the reason for the International Association of Chiefs of Police 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 many researchers adamantly state that marijuana or other Schedule I drugs have no medical benefit whatsoever; and

WHEREAS, it is neither rational nor compassionate to provide a harmful, addictive drug with no scientifically proven medical efficacy; and WHEREAS, at a time of increasing drug use among our younger population, as exemplified by the Monitoring the Future Survey conducted by the University of Michigan (1996) which disclosed that drug use by youth in the United States has doubled since 1992, we should not be sending false and confusing messages to our youth concerning the danger of marijuana and other Schedule I substances; and

WHEREAS, there are currently ballot initiatives or referendums in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, the State of Washington and the District of Columbia that would make marijuana or other Schedule I substances available to the public without following the medical and scientific processes by which substances are approved as safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration for approval and regulation; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), duly assembled at its 105th annual conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, strongly opposes these initiatives as inconsistent with established scientific and medical protocols for establishing the medical value of dangerous drugs and urges the citizens of these states and the District of Columbia to soundly defeat such initiatives or any other efforts that would legalize the distribution and/or use of any Schedule I drug.