FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Libertarian Party of New York Urges Congress to Deschedule and Legalize Cannabis
Albany, New York, September 2, 2020 – The Libertarian Party of New York (LPNY) urges Congress to consider and approve pending Federal legislation to deschedule and legalize cannabis. Since its inception in 1971, the Libertarian Party of New York has been the only political party consistently and vociferously denouncing the war on drugs as a failure, and advocating for the legalization of cannabis in order to take more victimless crimes off the books and to support all citizens’ rights to self-ownership.
The “MORE Act” (S2227/HR3884) – which stands for Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act – has sat fallow in Congress since July 2019. According to the summary on congress.gov, the bill also makes other changes to existing law, including:
- replacing statutory references to marijuana and marihuana with cannabis,
- requiring the Bureau of Labor Statistics to regularly publish demographic data on cannabis business owners and employees,
- making Small Business Administration loans and services available to entities that are cannabis-related legitimate businesses or service providers,
- prohibiting the denial of federal public benefits to a person on the basis of certain cannabis-related conduct or convictions,
- prohibiting the denial of benefits and protections under immigration laws on the basis of a cannabis-related event (e.g., conduct or a conviction), and
- establishing a process to expunge convictions and conduct sentencing review hearings related to federal cannabis offenses.
- establishing a trust fund to support various programs and services for individuals and businesses in communities impacted by the war on drugs,
- imposing a 5% tax on cannabis products and requires revenues to be deposited into the trust fund.
Now, with election season well underway, and Libertarian candidates across the nation nipping at the heels of the duopoly parties, the bill has suddenly gained bipartisan support in the House of Representatives. Somewhat ironically, the bill’s sponsor in the Senate is none other than Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris (D-CA), whose atrocious past record on criminal justice, particularly drug crimes, exposes her move to support the ideas that have been championed by the Libertarian Party for decades as nothing more than political pandering.
With the exception of the proposed tax and government-administered trust fund, the LPNY supports all remaining facets of this legislation, and we implore Congress to consider and pass the pending legislation, and send it to the White House for signature.
For more information about the Libertarian Party of New York, visit Facebook at www.facebook.com/LPNYOfficial, Twitter @LPNYOfficial, Instagram @LPNYOfficial, or their website, www.lpny.org.