[Lnc-business] Email Ballot 2017-04: Cannabis Resolution

Tue Feb 28 13:20:18 EST 2017

I'd like to point out that not everyone is as discriminating when it comes
to the written word.  Most people will favor a resolution in support of
marijuana legalization, but that doesn't mean they all examine the language
of the resolution itself.

So, I could personally support a given resolution idea, but not the way it
is written, necessarily.

I, personally, tend to be a stickler when it comes to this...I want our
words to be precise (and concise), direct, and objective (when possible).
I do not want to publish lectures or sermons when it comes to stating our
principles.  I don't want to publish something just to say we did...

Most of the time, there are too many words, too much lecturing, and too
much emotion.  Let's make the point, cite some verifiable evidence, and
move on.

I am not ready to vote...

On Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 12:06 AM, Caryn Ann Harlos <carynannharlos at gmail.com
> wrote:

> As urged by Sam, I did a quick survey to ascertain member support and it
> was overwhelming in support of this resolution and opposed to the idea that
> such resolutions are a waste of our time.  I maintain that as a body we are
> sometimes out of touch with the membership.  The survey is only of a 100
> people (the free limit on survey monkey) and not only region 1 though the
> mass email was targeted to region 1.
>
> Out of 100 responses, 93 urged me to support this resolution.  5 said no.
>  2 were undecided.
> Out of 100 responses, 84 said it was not a waste of time for the LNC to
> consider resolutions such as this.  6 said yes it was.  8 were undecided.
>
> This is a popular resolution and the support is not "meh, yes" but "hell,
> yes" in the personal interactions I have had.
>
> I urge you to vote yes.
>
> - Caryn Ann
>
> On Sat, Feb 25, 2017 at 1:38 PM, Joshua Katz <planning4liberty at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I vote no.
>>
>> I had drafted an explanation of my vote, but having caught up with the
>> email back and forth, I think it suffices to say that any point I would
>> have wished to make has been made.
>>
>> Joshua A. Katz
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 24, 2017 at 4:10 PM, Alicia Mattson <agmattson at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> We have an electronic mail ballot.
>>>
>>>
>>> *Votes are due to the LNC-Business list by March 6, 2017 at 11:59:59pm
>>> Pacific time.*
>>> *Co-Sponsors:*  Harlos, Demarest, Starchild, Redpath
>>>
>>> *Motion:*
>>>
>>> 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.
>>>
>>>
>>> -Alicia
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Lnc-business mailing list
>>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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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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>
>
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