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

Starchild sfdreamer at earthlink.net
Mon Feb 13 10:54:18 EST 2017


 	I went in to try to come up with alternative language to address the objections that have been raised about this resolution, and ended up doing a comprehensive edit, making numerous changes related to both style and grammar, as well as substance, besides eliminating the language about heroin to which Dan and Whitney voiced objections. 

	Jon and fellow LNC members, please let me know if you find this version (below) acceptable, or have additional thoughts on better wording. The wording in red is new; the wording in strike-through was deleted from the original.

	I am willing to co-sponsor this version, if Caryn Ann wishes to adopt it as her motion.

Love & Liberty,
                                   ((( starchild )))
At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
                                (415) 625-FREE
                                   @StarchildSF
             
 
WHEREAS, the current federal classification of cannabis is currently classified as a Schedule I drug under the United States Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule 1 drug having no medicinal value , which is an inaccurate classification at odds with the findings of the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine and those of many other researchers; and



WHEREAS this dishonest inappropriate classification because it impedes is an impediment both to useful academic legal research, and to realizing the economic benefits that legalization offers; and by industries and universities. Further, the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine concluded cannabis’ medical benefits after reviewing relevant scientific literature, including dozens of works documenting its therapeutic value;

 
WHEREAS, cannabis is a mild drug with few harmful effects and zero documented fatalities which is even safer when not forced into the black market, where labeling, testing, and quality control are less prevalent; and Labeled, quality-controlled cannabis products are far safer than unlabeled, untested black-market drugs;

 
WHEREAS, the demand for drugs remains unabated under prohibition -- a policy that has never succeeded.  drug prohibition in the United States has been an unmitigated failure, with a third of Americans self-reporting having One-third of Americans have used cannabis and despite strict penalties against its sale, manufacture and use, and  narcotics, heroin use is an epidemic that now kills more Americans every year than do automobiles and homicide  over $1 trillion of taxpayer money have been wasted spent nationally in a futile effort to enforce enforcing drug laws, including those pertaining to cannabis; and 



WHEREAS the black markets created by these unconstitutional statutes have led to increased violence both in the United States and in other countries such as Mexico where cannabis and other drugs are produced for the U.S. market, Further, drug warfare drives up crime which endangers Americans and terrorizes the people of supplier countries, such as Mexico; and


WHEREAS, millions and millions of peaceful Americans have been arrested, imprisoned, fined, or otherwise needlessly criminalized and stigmatized, potentially for life, because of their use of cannabis, and the 2 million Drug War prisoners American citizens have been currently behind bars in the United States imprisoned, representing have given this country the highest documented incarceration rate of any nation on Earth, and accounting for a reported 25% the world’s prisoners; and


WHEREAS, drug prohibition has been the major driver of the practice of asset forfeiture, in which with the Drug War’s “asset seizure” program has raising over $13 billion has been seized by for law enforcement across the country, often from people who have not been convicted of, or sometimes even charged with, any crime; and 



WHEREAS this gross violation of legal are frequently denied due process, has incentivized incentivizing the arbitrary and often discriminatory arrest of otherwise peaceful U.S. residents in what has come to be known as "policing for profit"  citizens which is often applied in an arbitrary and discriminatory manner; and

 
WHEREAS, existing cannabis unconstitutional statutes attempting to control what people choose to put into their own bodies laws represent constitute a vast and dangerous government intervention over‐reach into the people's personal lives of our fellow citizens, violating founding the cherished American values principles of personal liberty individual freedom and choice; and

 
WHEREAS, polls now show that most Americans support legalizing cannabis for both medical and recreational use, and voters in multiple states have voted accordingly; the citizens of seven states, including Colorado, Washington, Alaska, California, Nevada, Maine, and Massachusetts have voted to fully legalize cannabis, with more states likely to follow, and over 20 states with medical cannabis laws in effect;  

 
WHEREAS, the economic benefit of legal cannabis products is significant, generating $6.7 billion in 2016 for the United States;

  
NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved that the Libertarian Party National Committee supports the immediate full legalization and federal descheduling of cannabis, medical cannabis, and industrial hemp products, as a much-needed first step toward ending the destructive "War on Drugs" entirely, in accord with the Libertarian Party's platform.



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