drugs are not missing from the LP Platform

Discussion
1

All 21 editions of the LP Platform have called for the repeal of all laws
against recreational drug use.

The current language has been in the Platform since 2004: "We favor the
repeal of all laws creating 'crimes' without victims, such as the use of
drugs for medicinal or recreational purposes."

The 2012 PlatCom voted 13-0-0 to broaden that language, but we did not win
2/3 delegate approval for it: "Individuals have the freedom and
responsibility to decide what media and substances they knowingly and
voluntarily consume, and what risks they accept to their own health,
finances, safety, or life."

The LP Platform is not organized according to the priorities of the State.
We don't add a separate plank to it every time some politician declares
another "war" -- on drugs, terror, obesity, crime, poverty, illiteracy,
cancer, trans-fats, gun violence, illegal immigration, or toys in happy
meals.

Instead, the LP Platform systematically enumerates the liberties that we
advocate. It's not easy to cite a valid right (i.e. freedom from
aggression) that the Platform doesn't embrace in one of its existing
planks. However, here are three rights on which the Platform is silent:

1) Procreation. Aside from a vague Population plank in a few editions in
the 1990s, the Platform has never addressed modernity's broadened array of
procreational practices and technologies.

2) Children. The notorious "Children's Rights" plank of the 1980s was not a
fertile source of re-usable language during the "Greatest Hits" Platform
repair of 2008. In 2014 we should address this topic with some nuanced
proposals about emancipation and about how the rights of children differ
from those of adults.

3) Intellectual "property". Given the tech/sci-fi heritage of
libertarians, the LP should be on the leading edge of this topic. No LP
Platform has ever addressed this area. C'mon, we can't let the Pirate
Party have all the fun!

At http://libertarianmajority.net/2014-lp-platform-proposal there is
proposed language to address all 3 areas. See planks 1.4, 3.5, and 1.1
respectively.

2

Brian,

  Yes, there is some language in the Platform about drugs, but not an actual plank. The current language is clearly insufficient since there are so many negative aspects of prohibition that it fails to address, and I think the 2012 delegates were right to reject the even vaguer language proposed by the 2012 Platform Committee that did not even mention the word "drugs"!

  Drug prohibition is not just some politician's "war du jour", but a serious area of rights violations and unconstitutional activity which has lasted decades and cost hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars in stolen taxpayer resources, but on which the tide seems to be turning in favor of freedom. We should not miss the opportunity to have a strong, detailed plank on this major issue and let the public know that we care about it and aren't just trying to gloss over the matter with a broad, bland statement unconnected to the specific injustices that members of the public see happening.

Love & Liberty,
                            ((( starchild )))

P.S. - Including at least the message to which you are responding in the text of your reply when you post, if not necessarily the text of any older messages, makes it easier to follow the thread of a conversation. Most email software does this by default. To me, allowing readers to see both sides of an exchange rather than presenting only my own views and making them go back and open previous messages if they want to be able to contrast what I say with what I'm responding to, is also a form of good manners and respectful debate in this electronic medium.

3

Starchild, do you have some language to propose?
Debbie (CO)

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4

Debbie,

  I don't have any immediate proposed language, but I can try to come up with some, and encourage others to do likewise. Here is what our platform said in 2004, before it was gutted:

Victimless Crimes
The Issue: Activities which do not affect anyone but the actor have been criminalized by government on the basis of encoding a particular morality into law.
The Principle: Only actions that infringe on the rights or damage the property of others can properly be termed crimes.
Solutions: We favor the repeal of all federal, state and local laws creating "crimes" without victims.
Transitional Action: In particular, we advocate:
A. the repeal of all laws prohibiting the production, sale, possession, or use of drugs, and of all medicinal prescription requirements for the purchase of vitamins, drugs, and similar substances; the repeal of all laws restricting or prohibiting the use or sale of alcohol, requiring health warning labels and signs, making bartenders or hosts responsible for the behavior of customers and guests, making liquor companies liable for birth defects, and making gambling houses liable for the losses of intoxicated gamblers; the repeal of all laws or policies authorizing stopping drivers without probable cause to test for alcohol or drug use; the repeal of all laws regarding consensual sexual relations, including prostitution and solicitation, and the cessation of state oppression and harassment of homosexual men and women, that they, at last, be accorded their full rights as individuals; the repeal of all laws regulating or prohibiting the possession, use, sale, production, or distribution of sexually explicit material, independent of "socially redeeming value" or compliance with "community standards";
B. the repeal of all laws regulating or prohibiting gambling;
C. the repeal of anti-racketeering statutes such as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which punish peaceful behavior -- including insider trading in securities, sale of sexually explicit material, and nonviolent anti-abortion protests -- by freezing and/or seizing assets of the accused or convicted; and
D. the repeal of all laws interfering with the right to commit suicide as infringements of the ultimate right of an individual to his or her own life.
We demand the use of executive pardon to free and exonerate all those presently incarcerated or ever convicted solely for the commission of these "crimes." We condemn the wholesale confiscation of property prior to conviction by the state that all too often accompanies police raids, searches, and prosecutions for victimless crimes. Further, we recognize that, often, the Federal Government blackmails states which refuse to comply with these laws by withholding funds and we applaud those states which refuse to be so coerced.

[edit]The War on Drugs
The Issue: The suffering that drug misuse has brought about is deplorable; however, drug prohibition causes more harm than drugs themselves. The so-called "War on Drugs" is in reality a war against the American people, our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It is a grave threat to individual liberty, to domestic order and to peace in the world.
The Principle: Individuals should have the right to use drugs, whether for medical or recreational purposes, without fear of legal reprisals, but must be held legally responsible for the consequences of their actions only if they violate others' rights.
Solutions: Social involvement by individuals is essential to address the problem of substance misuse and abuse. Popular education and assistance groups are a better approach than prohibition, and we support the activities of private organizations as the best way to move forward on the issue.
Transitional Action: Repeal all laws establishing criminal or civil penalties for the use of drugs. Repeal laws that infringe upon individual rights to be secure in our persons, homes, and property as protected by the Fourth Amendment. Stop the use of "anti-crime" measures such as profiling or civil asset forfeiture that reduce the standard of proof historically borne by government in prosecutions. Stop prosecuting accused non-violent drug offenders, and pardon those previously convicted.

  There is some good language there which could be used. A solid Drug War plank would also address the following points (in no particular order):

• The ritual use of drugs as a matter of spiritual or religious freedom
• The desirability of allowing scientific research and exploration into altered states of consciousness
• The environmental damage wrought by marijuana grows on public land as a consequence of the black market and high profits brought about by criminalization
• The sheer numbers of people incarcerated in the United States for drug growing, manufacture, sales, possession, and use
• How U.S. drug criminalization has helped finance terrorist groups like the Taliban in Afghanistan by allowing them to make large profits in the black market
• How U.S. drug criminalization has fueled violence between rival drug cartels in places like Mexico, with large numbers of innocent people killed as a result
• The racist origins of Drug Prohibition, and its racist patterns of enforcement today, including the only recently revoked disparity between sentencing for crack and powder cocaine "offenses"
• The fact that there has been no similar amendment to the Constitution such as was enacted in order to allow Alcohol Prohibition, and therefore current federal drug laws are unconstitutional and illegal
• The fact that getting intoxicated is not only a natural human urge, but occurs widely in nature among species as diverse as birds, dolphins, and reindeer.
• The staggering amount of stolen taxpayer money wasted in the U.S. government's "War on Drugs"
• The human suffering and harm caused to families and communities by incarcerating breadwinners and other family members and separating children from their parents
• The utter failure of the "War on Drugs" to reduce drug abuse

Love & Liberty,
                                ((( starchild )))

5

How about this:
1)End the war on drugs. It has destroyed the lives and families of
millions of people.
2)Restrain runaway prosecution. It has destroyed the lives and
families of millions of people.

________________________________
From: Starchild <sfdreamer@...>
To: LP Platform Discussion <LPplatform-discuss@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: John Bechtol <javlin@...>; LPSF Discussion List <lpsf-discuss@yahoogroups.com>; Gale Morgan <galemorgan@...>; Robert Kraus <robert.kraus@...>; Dave Jones <davelibertyjones@...>; Aaron Starr <starrcpa@...>; lpusmisc@yahoogroups.com; Joseph Buchman <drbuchman@...>; Roy Minet <Roy.Minet@...>; John Wayne Smith <jwsmith42000@...>; nkleffman . <nkleffman@...>; Dianna Visek <Dianna.Visek@...>; Ann Leech <Ann.Leech@...>; christian padgett <libertychrisny@...>; Tom Rhodes <tomr62262@...>; Henry Haller <hehaller@...>; Travis Nicks <tnicks@...>; houselynn@...; Andrew LeCureaux <alecureaux@...>; Sarah Bales <sarahrbales@...>; sam8074@...; Joe Hauptmann <joeh46250@...>; Alicia Mattson <agmattson@gmail.com>; Ken Prazek <libertykenneth@...>; Mark Grannis <mgrannis@...>; Laura Delhomme <lauradelhomme@...>; Rebecca Sink-Burris

<rebecca.sinkburris@...>; John Fockler <John.Fockler@...>; Christopher R. Maden <crism@...>; LP Sunshine Caucus <lpsunshine@yahoogroups.com>; Grassroots Libertarians Caucus <GrassrootsLibertarians@yahoogroups.com>; LP Radical Caucus <lpradicals@yahoogroups.com>

Sent: Tuesday, January 7, 2014 2:47 AM
Subject: [lpsf-discuss] Re: Drug PLANK is missing from the LP Platform

Debbie,

I don't have any immediate proposed language, but I can try to come up with some, and encourage others to do likewise. Here is what our platform said in 2004, before it was gutted:
Victimless Crimes

The Issue: Activities which do not affect anyone but the actor have been criminalized by government on the basis of encoding a particular morality into law.
The Principle: Only actions that infringe on the rights or damage the property of others can properly be termed crimes.
Solutions: We favor the repeal of all federal, state and local laws creating "crimes" without victims.
Transitional Action: In particular, we advocate:
A. the repeal of all laws prohibiting the production, sale, possession, or use of drugs, and of all medicinal prescription requirements for the purchase of vitamins, drugs, and similar substances; the repeal of all laws restricting or prohibiting the use or sale of alcohol, requiring health warning labels and signs, making bartenders or hosts responsible for the behavior of customers and guests, making liquor companies liable for birth defects, and making gambling houses liable for the losses of intoxicated gamblers; the repeal of all laws or policies authorizing stopping drivers without probable cause to test for alcohol or drug use; the repeal of all laws regarding consensual sexual relations, including prostitution and solicitation, and the cessation of state oppression and harassment of homosexual men and women, that they, at last, be accorded their full rights as individuals; the repeal of all laws regulating or prohibiting the possession, use,

sale, production, or distribution of sexually explicit material, independent of "socially redeeming value" or compliance with "community standards";