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Alert: Stop New Drug Prohibitions in Congress

Submitted by David Borden on (Issue #699)

Your help is needed to stop new drug prohibitions moving quickly through Congress. As we reported recently in Drug War Chronicle, bills to place synthetic cannabinoid ("spice" or K2) and mephedrone (marketed as "bath salts") products in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), have passed committees in the Senate and the House of Representatives, and could have House and Senate floor votes at any time.

Along with adding new criminalization to our society already burdened by massive arrest and incarceration rates, Schedule I placement will ban medical use and make it difficult to research possible medical uses of the substances too. There's no evidence of a looming crisis over either of these substances, and Spice/K2 sales have already been barred temporarily under a DEA "emergency order" while the intended CSA process of studying a drug before making decisions about it gets carried out. Most of all, reflexively enacting new drug prohibitions at a time when prohibition itself is increasingly coming into question is backwards -- there are better options available for reducing the potential of these substances to do harm.

Please use our web form to contact your US Representative and your two US Senators in opposition to these unnecessary prohibitions.
Please follow-up by calling their offices too -- if you don't know their numbers (or aren't sure who they are), you can reach them by calling the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. And please use our tell-a-friend form to spread the word.


Click here
for updates on these and similar bills in Congress, and here for new prohibition bills in the state legislatures -- votes already taken in the states are tallied here. (We don't have state alerts set up yet, but you can use our web site in the meanwhile to find out what's going on in your state and contact your legislators about it.)

Thank you for taking action!

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

Charles Patric… (not verified)

I'v already done all of this more than once with the states senator,the congres peoples and the states reps as well.The legalizaTION OF MARIJUANA FOR ADULT USE NATION WIDE GO'S SO BVERY BEYOND JUST ALLOWING A PERSON TO USE IT LEF=GALY THAT THERE ARE JUST WAY TO MANY POSITIVE ASPECTS TO LEGALIZATION to list them all

Thu, 09/08/2011 - 6:10pm Permalink
Arnold (not verified)

Until more of the reformists and libertarians of the world vote, prohibition will continue to be the solution America gets from its leaders - the same leaders elected by a small minority of people (the current voters). More freedom is taken away everyday.

Thu, 09/08/2011 - 11:47pm Permalink
Moonrider (not verified)

In reply to by Arnold (not verified)

And elect Ron Paul as president and we can have an end to the federal drug war (and the unconstitutional parts of Patriot Act which has been used far more against drugs (and even fraud) than against terror:  http://www.copinthehood.com/2011/09/sneak-and-peek.html).  Reformers need to vote for Ron Paul in primaries and caucuses (cross party lines to do so, if necessary) and become delegates for him at the conventions (State and national).  He is the ONLY candidate who has said he would end the drug war, along with other unconstitutional agencies and acts by the federal government, so if you truly want these laws reformed or ended he is our only choice and this election is our only chance.

Fri, 09/09/2011 - 3:22am Permalink

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