A RESOLUTION in support of the request of the King County Bar Association’s Drug Policy Project that the Washington State Legislature establish a special commission to study regulatory options for controlling psychoactive substances.

WHEREAS, the Municipal League of King County (MLKC) strives to assist the community to identify and efficiently solve problems; and

WHEREAS, three years ago MLKC joined a coalition of professional and civic organizations formed to address the problems of chronic substance abuse (the King County Bar Association’s Drug Policy Project) and became a member of the Project’s Steering Committee; and

WHEREAS, the Steering Committee has concluded that current drug control policies are fundamentally flawed and that the unrelenting demand for prohibited psychoactive substances has fostered illegal markets that have led to a number of societal problems including soaring public costs, jail overcrowding, and the transmission of blood-borne diseases; and

WHEREAS, the Steering Committee’s research into how other countries have addressed chronic drug abuse has convinced the Steering Committee that public investment in research, education, prevention and treatment is a more effective drug control alternative than the use of criminal sanctions; and

WHEREAS, the King County Bar Association has adopted and transmitted a resolution to the Washington State Legislature that urges the Legislature to establish a special commission to study regulatory options for controlling psychoactive substances; and

WHEREAS, several members of the KCBA Steering Committee, including the WA State Medical Association, WA State Public Health Association, WA Physicians for Social Responsibility, King County Medical Society, the League of Women Voters, and Church Council of Greater Seattle have adopted resolutions to support the establishment of a special commission to study regulatory options for psychoactive substances in Washington State,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MUNICIPAL LEAGUE OF KING COUNTY, THAT:
The Municipal League of King County supports the work of the King County Bar Association’s Drug Policy Project and urges the Washington State Legislature to grant the KCBA’s request to establish a special commission to study regulatory options for controlling psychoactive substances.
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Chair __________of the Municipal League of King County
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Chair __________, Issues Committee of the Municipal League of King County