[Lnc-business] Marijuana Resolution - revision - request for co-sponsors

[Caryn Ann Harlos]

Starchild re-worked this and said he would be willing to co-sponsor.  Chair
Watts is satisfied with it:


*WHEREAS *the current federal classification of cannabis under the Controlled
Substances Act as a Schedule 1 drug having no medicinal value 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 classification  is an impediment both to useful
academic research, and to realizing the economic benefits that legalization
offers; and


*WHEREAS* cannabis is a 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


*WHEREAS* drug prohibition in the United States has been an unmitigated
failure, with a third of Americans self-reporting having used
cannabis despite strict penalties against its sale, manufacture and
use, and   over
$1 trillion of taxpayer money in a futile effort to enforce  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; 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 currently behind bars in the United States  have given this
country the highest documented incarceration rate of any nation on
Earth, 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 over $13 billion has been seized by 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  due process, has incentivized
the arbitrary
and often discriminatory arrest of U.S. residents in what has come to be
known as "policing for profit" ; and


*WHEREAS* unconstitutional statutes attempting to control what people
choose to put into their own bodies  constitute a vast and dangerous
 government intervention  into  people's personal lives violating the
cherished American values of  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;


*NOW THEREFORE *be it resolved that the Libertarian National Committee
supports the immediate full legalization and federal de-scheduling of
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.


=====


I am seeking two additional co-sponsors.


-- 
*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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