<div dir="ltr">Starchild re-worked this and said he would be willing to co-sponsor.  Chair Watts is satisfied with it:<div><br></div><div><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;vertical-align:baseline"><font color="#000000"><b>WHEREAS </b><span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">the current federal classification of </font></span>cannabis<span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> under the </span><span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Controlled Substances Act <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">as a Schedule 1 drug having no medicinal value</font> is an <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">inaccurate classification at odds with the findings of the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine and those of many other researchers; and</font></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;vertical-align:baseline"><font color="#000000"><span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span"><b>WHEREAS</b> this dishonest </font>classification  <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">is an impediment both to useful academic </font></span><span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">research<font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">,</font> <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">and to realizing the economic benefits that legalization offers; and</font> </span></font></p><div style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;vertical-align:baseline"><font color="#000000"> <br class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369webkit-block-placeholder"></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;vertical-align:baseline"><font color="#000000"><b>WHEREAS</b><span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> </span>cannabis is a drug with few harmful effects and zero documented fatalities <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">which is even safer when not forced into the black market, where labeling, testing, and quality control are less prevalent</font>; and </font></p><div style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;vertical-align:baseline"><font color="#000000"> <br class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369webkit-block-placeholder"></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;vertical-align:baseline"><font color="#000000"><b>WHEREAS</b><span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> </span><font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">drug prohibition in the United States has been an unmitigated failure, with a third of Americans self-reporting having</font> used cannabis despite strict penalties <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">against its sale, manufacture and use, and</font>   over $1 trillion <span class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span" style="font-size:13px"><font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">of taxpayer money</font></span><span class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span" style="font-size:13px"> </span><span class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span" style="font-size:13px"><font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">in a futile effort to enforce</font></span><span class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span" style="font-size:13px">  drug laws, including those pertaining to cannabis</span><span class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span" style="font-size:13px"><font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">; and </font></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;vertical-align:baseline"><font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><b><br></b></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;vertical-align:baseline"><font color="#000000"><font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span"><b>WHEREAS</b> 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</font>; <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">and</font></font></p><div style="font-size:12.8px"><font color="#000000"><br></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><font color="#000000"><b>WHEREAS</b> millions <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">and millions</font> of peaceful Americans have been arrested, imprisoned, fined, or otherwise needlessly criminalized and stigmatized, potentially for life, because of their use of cannabis, <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">and the </font>2 million <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">Drug War prisoners</font> <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">currently behind bars in the United States</font>  <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">have given this country</font> the highest <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">documented</font> incarceration rate of any nation on Earth<font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">,</font> <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">accounting for a reported</font> 25% the world’s prisoners; <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">and</font></font></p><div style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><font color="#000000"><br></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><font color="#000000"><b>WHEREAS</b><font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span"> drug prohibition has been the major driver of the practice of asset forfeiture, in which </font>over $13 billion <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">has been seized by</font> law enforcement across the country<font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">, often from people who have not been convicted of, or sometimes even charged with, any crime;</font> and </font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><b><br></b></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><font color="#000000"><font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span"><b>WHEREAS</b> this gross violation of legal </font> due process<strike>,</strike> <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">has incentivized</font> the<font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span"> arbitrary and often discriminatory</font> arrest of <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">U.S. residents in what has come to be known as "policing for profit"</font> ; <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">and</font></font></p><div style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><font color="#000000"><span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> </span><br class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369webkit-block-placeholder"></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><font color="#000000"><b>WHEREAS</b> <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">unconstitutional statutes attempting to control what people choose to put into their own bodies</font>  <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">constitute a</font> vast<font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span"> and dangerous</font> government <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">intervention</font>  into  <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">people's</font> personal lives violating <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">the cherished </font>American <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">values </font>of  <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">individual freedom</font> and choice; <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">and</font></font></p><div style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><font color="#000000"> <br class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369webkit-block-placeholder"></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><font color="#000000"><b>WHEREAS</b> <font class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369Apple-style-span">polls now show that most Americans support legalizing cannabis for both medical and recreational use, and voters in multiple states have voted accordingly;</font> </font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><font color="#000000"><br></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><font color="#000000"><b>NOW THEREFORE </b>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.</font></p><span class="gmail-im" style="font-size:12.8px"><font color="#000000"><div style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify">  <br class="gmail-m_3827334508197203369webkit-block-placeholder"></div></font></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify">=====</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify">I am seeking two additional co-sponsors.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><br></p>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><font size="4" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#666666"><b>In Liberty,</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#666666"><b>Caryn Ann Harlos</b></font></div><div><font size="1">Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee </font><span style="font-size:x-small">(Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - <a href="mailto:Caryn.Ann.Harlos@LP.org" target="_blank">Caryn.Ann. Harlos@LP.org</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size:x-small">Communications Director, <a href="http://www.lpcolorado.org" target="_blank">Libertarian Party of Colorado</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size:x-small">Colorado State Coordinator, <a href="http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org" target="_blank">Libertarian Party Radical Caucus</a></span></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><span style="font-size:x-small"><br></span></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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