Fellow Libertarians,
The United States government has just declared war on medical cannabis, throwing patients and dispensaries into a panic and with good reason. Even those with years of unblemished operations, including some of our finest and most respected MCDs, are being targeted. The Feds are even threatening to prosecute anyone who runs ads about medical marijuana. According to the latest proclamation from the Bluecoats, "Nobody is immune."
Many Libertarians saw this coming when President Bush holdover, Michele Leonhart, boasted she would ignore the administration’s formal medical marijuana guidelines, yet was still appointed to head the DEA. As a result, our campaign team carefully crafted a revolutionary new voter initiative that will legally allow California to Opt Out of the Controlled Substances Act. Of course, the Feds can challenge our voter initiative once it passes, but we believe we have the necessary legal tools within this initiative to defeat them.
Libertarian James Gray, a retired superior court judge, and chief proponent for our initiative, blasted this unprecedented intervention by the Federal government in a press conference. "For the federal government to interfere with state and local implementation of California’s medical marijuana law is tantamount to a government bailout for criminal gangs and violent drug cartels. For some reason the federal government wants to force legal medical marijuana patients toward a dangerous criminal market and away from an above-ground industry that pays over $100 million per year in state taxes and provides jobs for thousands of our citizens. California voters can tell the feds to back off and let Californians implement our own laws by voting to regulate marijuana like wine next November," said the former judge.
This action by the Federal government against the state of California is no more about marijuana than the Boston Tea Party was about tea. This is about tyranny and the battle to restore the rule of law to our Republic. By supporting this initiative to opt out of the Controlled Substance Act, you are laying the foundations for bringing a rogue Federal government back into compliance with the 10th Amendment, something that is long overdue. Last June the US Supreme Court made a 9-0 ruling that dramatically upholds the 10th Amendment and rebukes the Federal government for assuming powers through treaties to which it is constitutionally prohibited.
A Gallup Poll that was just released shows support for legalization at an historic high of 50% nationwide and 55% in California. We also have a poll by the Economist magazine which shows 62% support for regulation. The first petition to the White House to qualify for a review and comment by President Obama was a petition to Legalize and Regulate Marijuana in a Manner Similar to Alcohol. It should be clear to everyone from these polls — as well as the recent call by 35,000 California physicians to legalize marijuana — that voters are more than ready to pass a legalization initiative that replaces unregulated black markets with a market that is regulated and taxed just like wine. Our initiative also places a strict cap on any other taxes or regulations for cannabis, beyond those that apply to growing grapes and selling wine.
We have just received our Title and Summary and have officially launched our petition drive. While I am confident that the big funders will come around, once they see us moving forward, it is imperative that every Libertarian in the country get involved now and make a 100% effort over the next three weeks to get donations and signatures. We need for large numbers of people to go to our website on Tuesday, November 1st, download a PDF of the petition, and print it out on both sides. After that, they will have a week to sign up their friends, family and coworkers, before they mail their petition to us to be validated and counted.
We will provide PDFs of our petition on our website and ask people to download and print on regular 8.5 x 11 paper or legal size paper, 8.5 x 14, on both sides. You can use your own printer for the regular size petitions or take our legal size PDFs to a copy story and they will make copies for you. Join the growing number of Libertarians who are working for the biggest victory ever for our party, this November 6, 2012. Remember, this is no more about marijuana than the Boston Tea Party was about tea. It’s about Tyranny, be it King George or our own federal government. That’s the way the Orange Country Register sees it and why they like this initiative.
During the Prop. 215 campaign, we also experienced a lot of apathy in the beginning. That changed once people realized we were actually collecting signatures and moving forward. Once the major funders realized we were within striking distance of qualifying, they set aside their objections and jumped on board. I believe the same will happen now, especially given the terrible sense of betrayal that so many people have about the mean spirited actions of this President and his unprovoked attack upon sick, disabled and dying patients who depend upon medical cannabis dispensaries and state law to protect them and keep them alive.
So the key to our plan is launch with a bang, make sure everyone knows we are for real, and give the major funders a reason to believe we are the winning ticket.
ACTION PLAN:
–Go to the Regulate Marijuana Like Wine website at: http://regulatemarijuanalikewine.com/
–Make a donation of whatever you can afford to create a future of liberty and a restrained Federal government.
–Go to the website, download the petition, print it up, sign it and mail it back to us ASAP.
–Do your part for freedom by speaking to friends, family and coworkers to pledge signatures and money.
It is up to us Libertarians to make sure our launch on November 1st is an impressive display of fireworks, not a dud. Your effort is urgently need to ensure that we have money and signatures three weeks from now. Please join us now and help make 2012 the greatest Libertarian victory of all time.
Yours in liberty
THE REGULATE MARIJUANA LIKE WINE COMMITTEE
James P Gray Chief Proponent
Steve Kubby Chief Officer
Bill McPike Chief Counsel
Steve Collett Treasur
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