Revise: IV.19 Marijuana

Recommended by a vote of 8 to 3

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Summary

This expands the scope of the existing plank by mentioning other recreational drugs, describing some of the harms done by the drug war, and addresses the application of federal law in California. To go along with those changes, the name is changed from "Marijuana" to "Drug War and Recreational Drugs".

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19. Marijuana

We applaud the trend toward legalization and/or decriminalization of marijuana both for medical and recreational purposes. However, we oppose the increase in new laws and regulations that has accompanied this trend, whether such measures are intended as a back-door way to continue prohibition or are simply taking advantage of marijuana's ambiguous legal status to achieve other goals. Specifically:

A. We oppose measures enacted by the state or by local governments to limit the number of marijuana dispensaries or other businesses.

B. We oppose the imposition of taxes or fees on marijuana cultivation or sale.

C. We support the right of individuals to grow marijuana plants for their own use on their own property without regulation or taxation by any level of government.

19. Drug War and Recreational Drugs

We applaud and encourage the growing state trends toward legalization and/or decriminalization of marijuana, as well as other recreational drugs. The war on drugs not only significantly undermines true civil liberty, it likewise erroneously harms communities by disproportionately increasing violent criminal activity. Furthermore, it is unsustainably expensive and, as history has shown, wildly ineffective. This is why we also vehemently oppose any increase in new laws, regulations, or taxation which seem to accompany the aforementioned trends, given that such measures are clearly intended to discreetly continue prohibition. As such, we support our state's exercise of nullification, in enacting laws removing ourselves from participation in the federal government's drug war, and recognize any attempt of a federal agent to circumvent these laws as an act of aggression to be handled by state authorities.