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

Mon Mar 6 07:46:31 EST 2017

I have not seen any recent LNC motions on domestic policy unless you count the motion dealing with prohibition which certainly strikes me as domestic policy. Have I missed something? Are motions addressing ramifications of Libertarian principles like repealing prohibitions now off the table because they are too “ideological”, meaning “principle oriented”? For the sake of the Libertarian Party and the future of the American people, I certainly hope not.

Thoughts?

~David

Dec 28-Jan 1 Omaha Libertarian Strategy & Family Fun Un-Convention

Celebrate Life, Set the Bar High and LIVE FREE

~David Pratt Demarest

LNC Region 6 Representative (IA, IL, MN, MO, ND, NE, WI)

Secretary, LPNE State Central Committee

Cell:      402-981-6469

Home: 402-493-0873

From: Lnc-business [mailto:lnc-business-bounces at hq.lp.org] On Behalf Of Caryn Ann Harlos
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2017 12:04 AM
To: Libertarian National Committee list <lnc-business at hq.lp.org>
Subject: Re: [Lnc-business] Email Ballot 2017-04: Cannabis Resolution

I look forward to co-sponsoring some motions on that Patrick.  Please get with me if you need my support on some idea.  I would love to work with you.  Those concerns are shared by Region 1.

-Caryn Ann

On Sun, Mar 5, 2017 at 10:53 PM, Patrick McKnight <patrick.joseph.mcknight at gmail.com <mailto:patrick.joseph.mcknight at gmail.com> > wrote:

I vote yes, however I think these symbolic resolutions are not a good use of our time. Everyone knows the LP position on marijuana.

Lets put this level of thought into growing membership and fundraising.

Thanks,

Patrick McKnight

Region 8 Rep

On Mar 5, 2017 11:52 PM, "James Lark" <jwl3s at eservices.virginia.edu <mailto:jwl3s at eservices.virginia.edu> > wrote:

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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-- 

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 <mailto: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>  

Chair, LP Historical Preservation Committee

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