Endorsements and Statements of Support for Taxing and Regulating Marijuana for Adult Use
Endorsements and Statements of Support for Taxing and Regulating Marijuana for Adult Use
All organizations listed here have endorsed at least one legislative bill, voter initiative, or state coalition that is working to legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana for adults 21 and older.
National Organizations Supporting Regulating Marijuana for Adults:
Clergy for a New Drug Policy
Courage Campaign
Doctors for Cannabis Regulation
Labor Network for Sustainability
Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP)
National Black Police Association
National Latino Evangelical Association
National Liberty Alliance
Parents for Addiction Treatment & Healing
Project Inform
United Farm Workers
William C. Velasquez Institute
State/Local Endorsements for Regulating Marijuana for Adults:
Adelante: Latino Democrats United
AFSCME Local 328
American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 88
Asian Pacific Islander Coalition
Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council
California Academy of Preventive Medicine
California Alliance for Retired Americans
California Council of Churches IMPACT
California Council of Land Trusts
California Democratic Party
California League of Conversation Voters
California Medical Association
California Nurses Association
Californians United for Responsible Budget
CASA de Maryland
Children's Alliance
Culinary Union Local 226
Democratic Party of Colorado
El Centro de la Raza
Equality California
Equality Maryland
Families for Justice as Healing
Friends Committee on Legislation of California
Garden State Equality
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 720
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 396
International Brotherhood of Teamsters Locals 14, 631, and 986
International Union of Operating Engineers Local 12
Job Opportunities Task Force
Laborer’s Union Local 872
Latina/o Bar Association of Washington
League of Women Voters of Maryland
Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership
Maryland Working Families
Minority Executive Directors Coalition
NAACP Alaska, Oregon and Washington State-Area Conference
NAACP: California, Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey State Conferences
NAACP New England Area Conference (representing Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine)
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum — Seattle Chapter
National Organization for Women —New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Washington
New Jersey Communities United
New Jersey Tenants Organization
Northwest Oregon Labor Council
Office & Professional Employees International Union – Local 8
OpenDoors Rhode Island
Planning and Conservation League
Professional & Technical Employees, Local 17
Progreso: Latino Progress Alliance
Sacramento Black Chamber of Commerce
Sailors’ Union of the Pacific
Seattle Building and Construction Trades Council
Statewide Poverty Action Network
Texans for Accountable Government
The Rhode Island Republican Liberty Caucus
The Rhode Island Sierra Club
Transport Providence
UA Local 525 Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Service Technicians
Union of Minority Neighborhoods
United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Locals 400 and 555
United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW), Western States Council
Vermont Cancer Survivors Network
Vermont State Colleges Faculty Federation
Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform
Veterans Alternative Healing, Inc.
Veterans for Peace, Phil Berrigan Memorial Chapter
Washington State Democrats
Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Selected Quotes from Endorsements and Statements of Support:
“Thus far, the criminalization of cannabis has proven to be a failed public health policy for several reasons, including: a) The diversion of limited economic resources to penal system costs and away from other more socially desirable uses such as funding health care, education, transportation, etc.; b) The social destruction of family units when cannabis users are incarcerated, rather than offered treatment and other social assistance; c) The disparate impacts that drug law enforcement practices have on communities of color; d) The continued demand for cannabis nationally, which supports violent drug cartels from Mexico and other international sources; e) The failure to decrease national and international supplies of cannabis from criminal and unregulated sources; f) The failure of the federal government’s limited actions through the ‘War on Drugs’ in mitigating substance abuse and addiction.”
— California Medical Association, “Cannabis and the Regulatory Void, Background Paper and Recommendation,” 2011
“Current marijuana enforcement policy is failing children and families. Decades of study have proven the unequal treatment of communities of color in the criminal justice system, especially in enforcement of marijuana policy. Washington’s kids pay a terrible price for these persistent racial disparities: children are separated from their parents, and families are trapped in poverty when adults are denied access to educational and economic opportunities.
“Public policy should move us closer toward justice and equity. Initiative 502 is necessary to eliminate one source of the impact of racial disparities that are currently harming Washington’s children, particularly children of color. Kids shouldn’t bear the burden of system failures.”
— Children’s Alliance, 2012
“Cannabis is known to be safer than alcohol:
Cannabis is less addictive than alcohol
Cannabis has never caused an overdose death
Cannabis use is not causally-related to crimes of violence
Alcohol is more addictive than cannabis … ”
“Taxing and regulating cannabis like alcohol would generate millions of dollars in annual revenue to fund education, infrastructure, law enforcement training, and treatment for those addicted to more dangerous substances and re-allocate the $22.3 million spent annually to arrest and prosecute cannabis consumers.”
— NAACP Delaware State Conference, “Resolution Requesting the 149th General Assembly of the State of Delaware pass legislation to tax and regulate cannabis for responsible social and economic policy,” March 2017
“There is honest debate among scientists about the health effects of marijuana, but we believe that the evidence is overwhelming that addiction and dependence are relatively minor problems, especially compared with alcohol and tobacco. Moderate use of marijuana does not appear to pose a risk for otherwise healthy adults. Claims that marijuana is a gateway to more dangerous drugs are as fanciful as the ‘Reefer Madness’ images of murder, rape and suicide.”
— Editorial: “Repeal Prohibition, Again,” New York Times, July 26, 2014
“Our current cannabis laws, which have created a vacuum filled by illegal cannabis growers and distributors, create conditions that threaten our natural resources in numerous ways. Illicit cannabis producers have been known to pollute soil and water with toxic chemicals, clear forestland, and divert streams for irrigation. Much of this destruction threatens local wildlife. …”
“… Regulating marijuana like alcohol, as H 5777 would do, would give us control over how marijuana cultivation sites operate. This legislation would establish a framework of legitimate cannabis businesses that are subject to environmental safety standards and accountable to the public.”
— Rhode Island Sierra Club, letter to Chair Cale Keable, April 2015
“Government's proper role in society is to protect the life, liberty, and property of individuals within its jurisdiction. At the federal level, marijuana prohibition is unconstitutional and at the state level it's an irresponsible use of resources. Marijuana is safer than alcohol and adult use should not be criminalized.”