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

Sun Dec 18 13:13:31 EST 2016

Thank you Ken, I will do that.  If you want to privately email me other
things you would change the Alaska Chair is actively seeking feedback.

-Caryn Ann

On Sun, Dec 18, 2016 at 11:11 AM, Ken Moellman <ken.moellman at lpky.org>
wrote:

>
> While you are providing AK feedback, I would like to suggest the removal
> of a couple of things....
>
>
> "Whereas, cannabis is less harmful than alcohol and tobacco;"
>
> I don't like the use of "comparatives".  Saying that cannabis is less
> harmful than tobacco and alcohol only encourages the nanny-statists to ban
> tobacco and alcohol.   IMO, we should be framing all arguments from a
> "people have the right to do what they want to do", not a "well those guys
> are allowed to do that and that's worse."
>
>
> "Whereas, existing cannabis laws have not had a significant impact on
> cannabis availability;"
>
> This should also be removed. There are many people who would use cannabis
> as a medicinal who are forbidden from doing so.  For that matter, the DEA
> just reclassified/clarified CBD as Schedule I.  It suggests that the laws
> don't work anyway so why is there a need to change them?
>
>
>
> There are some other things I'd change, and re-arrange, but the two above
> should be removed IMO.
>
> ---
>
> Ken C. Moellman, Jr.
> LNC Region 3 Alternate Representative
> LPKY Judicial Committee
>
>
>
> On 2016-12-18 09:08, Caryn Ann Harlos wrote:
>
> 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 <(317)%20850-0726> Phone
>> 317-582-1773 <(317)%20582-1773> 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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>>
>>
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>>
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>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
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>

-- 
*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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