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

[James Lark]

Dear colleagues:

     I hope all is well with you.  I am writing in my capacity as Region 
5 representative to vote "aye" on the motion.

     As always, thanks for your work for liberty.

     Take care,
     Jim

     James W. Lark, III
     Dept. of Systems and Information Engineering
     Applied Mathematics Program, Dept. of Engineering and Society
     Affiliated Faculty, Dept. of Statistics
     University of Virginia

     Advisor, The Liberty Coalition
     University of Virginia

     Region 5 Representative, Libertarian National Committee
-----

On 2/24/2017 5:10 PM, Alicia Mattson 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
>
>
>
>
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