Statement from the LAI annual meeting


Publisert 2014-03-16

The LAI annual meeting made yesterday the following statement to president Barack Obama:

Oslo 15.03.2014

Stop the legalizing of cannabis in the US

The League against Intoxicants (Norwegian name: Forbundet Mot Rusgift), assembled in its annual meeting in Oslo the 15 th of March 2014, has discussed, and is worried about the development of the drug policy in the US in the recent years.

Two states in your country have legalized cannabis as a recreational intoxicant, while another twenty states have accepted the sales of so called "medical marijuana". The Legalizing of cannabis disaccords with the UN drug conventions, which are ratified by the US. It is therefore difficult for us to understand that you, as the superior federal authority, do not intervene and ensure the restoration of the US adherence to the drug conventions.

Even if there still is little information of the effect of the legalizing in Colorado, which took effect the 1st of January this year, a review, done by the company Conspire, shows that the number of their clientele testing positive for THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, has risen from 44% from December 2013. This also represents a 270% increase since de facto legalization (commercial medical marijuana retail sales) began in 2009. Conspire is a company which provides drug testing for businesses and schools in Colorado.

In Norway, which plays by the rules in the drug conventions, and accordingly has forbidden the possession and use of hashish and marijuana, the use of cannabis has decreased in the recent years. For public health this seems to be a much better drug political approach.

The League against Intoxicants is also worried about the fact that the drug political development in the US in a long-term view threatens to influence the situation both in the West and in other parts of the world. The LAI (FMR) calls for you to interfere against the legalization experiments in Colorado and Washington, which are counter to federal law, and take initiative to defeat the dissemination and use of cannabis in all states in the US.

Yours sincerely
The League against Intoxicants

Knut T. Reinås
Head of the LAI board