[Lnc-business] Marijuana Resolution - Request for Co-Sponsors

[Caryn Ann Harlos]

That is a fair point I will bring to Alaska's attention.  Thanks!

-Caryn Ann

On Sun, Dec 18, 2016 at 6:29 AM Sam Goldstein <goldsteinatlarge at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Caryn Ann,
>
> Other than being entirely too long, I cannot support any resolution that
> "calls on  federal and state legislators to develop new programs".  Our
> goal is to shrink government at all levels, not to increase it.
>
> Live free,
>
>
>
> Sam Goldstein
> Libertarian National Committee
> Member at Large
> 8925 N Meridian St, Ste 101
> Indianapolis IN 46260
> 317-850-0726 Phone
> 317-582-1773 Fax
>
>
>
> On Sun, Dec 18, 2016 at 3:01 AM, Caryn Ann Harlos <
> carynannharlos at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I withdrew this from the agenda and deferred to ask by email vote.  The
> Alaska affiliate requested me to bring this before the LNC - requesting
> co-sponsors
>
> Whereas, cannabis is less harmful than alcohol and tobacco;
>
>
>
> Whereas, existing cannabis laws represent vast government over‐reach into
> the personal lives of American citizens and violate principles of personal
> liberty and choice;
>
>
>
> Whereas, existing cannabis laws have not had a significant impact on
> cannabis availability;
>
>
>
> Whereas, millions of peaceful Americans have been arrested, imprisoned,
> fined, or otherwise needlessly criminalized and stigmatized, potentially
> for life, because of their use of cannabis;
>
>
>
> Whereas, over $1 trillion have been spent nationally enforcing drug laws,
> including those pertaining to cannabis, since the War on Drugs was
> politically initiated by President Richard Nixon in the 1970s;
>
>
>
> Whereas, because of drug laws, including cannabis laws, the United States
> has become a nation of mass incarceration – imprisoning 2 million American
> citizens which represents the highest imprisonment rate of any nation on
> Earth and 25% the world’s prisoners;
>
>
>
> Whereas, the enforcement of cannabis and other drugs laws has been racist
> and represents the new Jim Crow, disproportionately targeting and impacting
> people of color and minorities;
>
>
>
> Whereas, the Drug War’s “asset seizure” program has raised over $13
> billion for local police forces across the country, encouraging more
> cannabis and other drug arrests while funding the purchase of high tech
> military equipment for police, further militarizing their operations;
>
>
>
> Whereas, there is a long history of Drug War abusive police tactics
> including the murdering of unarmed, non‐violent, misidentified, and
> innocent people;
>
>
>
> Whereas, those arrested and accused of drug offenses, including cannabis
> offenses, are often compelled by police and prosecutors to serve as
> informants for investigations of potentially dangerous drug dealers or else
> face additional charges; this is a disrespectful and dangerous practice
> that can have lethal consequences for the accused and their families;
>
>
>
> Whereas, existing drug laws, including those criminalizing cannabis, have
> created an illegal market for drugs contributing to crime and
> violence‐ridden American neighborhoods while funding drug cartels operating
> in the U.S. and in other countries such as Mexico where their operations
> have thoroughly undermined civil society and inflicted unimaginable
> violence and corruption;
>
>
>
> Whereas, there is a widespread and accurate belief that the War on Drugs,
> including the war on cannabis, has been an abysmal failure, producing much
> more harm than good;
>
>
>
> Whereas, existing drug laws, including those criminalizing cannabis, and
> their unjust enforcement have caused many Americans to lose respect for law
> enforcement on all levels including prosecutors, judges, lawmakers, et.al
> .;
>
>
>
> Whereas, drug courts for cannabis offenders are no solution because they
> are fundamentally punitive in nature, assume cannabis users are drug
> abusers and criminals, and compel those accused of cannabis offenses to
> give up their rights as a condition of entering drug court in order to
> escape potentially worse sanctions; drug courts leave the accused at the
> mercy of court‐appointed coercive drug “counselors,” who serve the court
> first and their “clients” second, and judges who can order them to jail
> without recourse;
>
>
>
> Whereas, decriminalization of cannabis is no solution because it fails to
> resolve the problems described above and because it continues to maintain
> two fundamental and indefensible fictions, namely, that cannabis is more
> harmful than alcohol and tobacco and that cannabis users are more of a
> threat to society and themselves than those who use alcohol and tobacco;
>
>
>
> Whereas, seven states, Colorado, Washington, Alaska, California, Nevada,
> Maine, and Massachusetts have voted to fully legalize cannabis, and more
> states are likely to follow, over 20 states have enacted medical cannabis
> laws;
>
>
>
> Whereas, the vast majority of Americans want prohibition to end as
> demonstrated by the fact that only five states in America still have full
> prohibition, all others have some form of legality or decriminalization;
>
>
>
> Whereas, an April 2, 2014, Pew Research Center poll found that 75% of
> Americans believe the use and sale of cannabis will eventually be legal in
> the United States nationwide;
>
>
>
> Whereas, legalizing cannabis is an important social issue, and a genuinely
> peaceful approach to cannabis and other currently illegal drugs must be
> based on freedom, harm reduction, and, in the case of actual drug abuse,
> free and readily available voluntary treatment – and not criminalization,
> criminal enforcement, or criminal punishment; And, whereas, cannabis  for
> use by adults should never have been criminalized and we should act now to
> correct this wrong and all the many wrongs which have followed from it;
>
>
>
> * * * * * * Now, therefore, be it resolved that the  Libertarian Party
> National Committee  supports the full legalization of cannabis;
>
>
>
> Be it further resolved that the  Libertarian Party National Committee  supports
> and endorses the concurrent economic benefits arising from a fully legal
> market which would alleviate many of the problems described above while
> raising hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues which could be used to
> support needed programs, close budget gaps, or finance tax cuts;
>
>
>
> Be it further resolved that the  Libertarian Party National Committee  calls
> on police, prosecutors, and judges to focus on real crime and, until
> cannabis is legalized, use their discretion to stop arresting, prosecuting,
> and punishing non‐violent cannabis users and minor drug sellers;
>
>
>
> Be it further resolved that the  Libertarian Party National Committee  calls
> on our President, Congress, Governors, State Legislators, Federal and State
> Attorneys General, and other officials to undo the damage that has been
> done by federal and state cannabis and other drug laws by eliminating
> mandatory minimum sentences, releasing from prison and jail those convicted
> of non‐violent cannabis and other minor drug offenses, and expunging their
> criminal records.
>
>
>
> And, finally, be it resolved that the  Libertarian Party National
> Committee  supports the legalization of industrial hemp which can be
> grown containing minimal amounts of psycho‐active ingredients like THC and
> used to produce renewable food, oil, wax, resin, rope, cloth, paper and
> fuel in support of a sustainable full‐employment society; and furthermore,
> calls on federal and state legislators to develop new programs to encourage
> a decentralized family farm and community‐oriented approach to industrial
> hemp development as a means to a sustainable full‐employment society.
>
> --
> *In Liberty,*
> *Caryn Ann Harlos*
> Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska, Arizona,
> Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
> Harlos at LP.org <Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org>
> Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
> <http://www.lpcolorado.org>
> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
> <http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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