Press Release: Group Cries Foul Over U.N. Anti-Drug Agency Meddling with State Laws in the U.S.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                     

MARCH 9, 2010

Group Cries Foul Over U.N. Anti-Drug Agency Meddling with State Laws in the U.S.

International Narcotic Control Board says it is “deeply concerned” that states’ medical marijuana laws send “wrong message to other countries”

CONTACT: Aaron Houston, MPP director of government relations …… 202-905-2009 or [email protected]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Marijuana Policy Project today denounced efforts by the United Nations’ International Narcotic Control Board (INCB) — currently meeting in Vienna, Austria — to meddle in marijuana reform in the United States. In a recent report, the INCB said they were “deeply concerned” that the country’s 14 state medical marijuana laws are sending the “wrong message to other countries.”

         Additionally, the INCB is “concerned over the ongoing discussion in several states on legalizing and taxing the ‘recreational’ use of cannabis, which would be a serious contravention of the 1961 convention.” However, the Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs treaty explicitly grants exception for any country to make laws that agree with its constitutional and legal requirements; therefore, the U.S. is complying with the treaty.

         “The last thing the INCB should be doing is meddling in our states’ affairs,” stated Aaron Houston, MPP director of government relations. “We are a federalist society and our states are granted the right to decide their own policy—not the federal government, and certainly not the United Nations. Who is the U.N. to tell Texas, Mississippi, Ohio or any other state what to do?”

         The INCB has also criticized several Latin American countries (Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina) for decriminalizing possession of some narcotics, including marijuana.

         With more than 124,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit www.mpp.org.

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