U.N. Meddles With U.S. State Pot Laws; Group Cries Foul

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Graphic: ficiency.com

​Hear the latest from those prohibitionist drug warriors at the United Nations? They don’t like medical marijuana, and they’re offering free (and unsolicited) input to the 14 states in the U.S. that have legalized the medicinal use of cannabis.

The U.N.’s International Narcotics Control Board’s (INCB) attempts to meddle in marijuana reform in the United States were denounced by the Marijuana Policy Project on Thursday.
The INCB, which is currently meeting in Vienna, Austria, said in a recent report that they were “deeply concerned” that the 14 U.S. states that have medical marijuana laws are sending the “wrong message to other countries.”
And here you were thinking that American states got to decide for themselves what “messages” to send! Silly you, they’re supposed to get the permission of the United Nations, first!
“The last thing the INCB should be doing is meddling in our states’ affairs,” said Aaron Houston, MPP director of government relations.


Photo: MPP
Aaron Houston: “The last thing the INCB should be doing is meddling in our states’ affairs”

​”We are a federalist society and our states are granted the right to decide their own policies — not the federal government, and certainly not the United Nations,” Houston said.
“Who is the U.N. to tell Texas, Mississippi, Ohio or any other state what to do?”
Additionally, the INCB is “concerned over the ongoing discussion in several states on legalizing and taxing the ‘recreational’ use of cannabis, which would be serious contravention of the 1961 convention.”
However, as pointed out by the MPP, the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs explicitly grants exception for any country to make laws that agree with its constitutional and legal requirements; thus, the United States is complying with the treaty.
The INCB has also criticized several Latin American countries (Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina) for decriminalizing “personal use” amounts of marijuana and illicit drugs.
Additionally, the INCB has expressed its “concern” about Canada’s medical marijuana program, prompting angry responses from patients and advocates in that country.
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