Legal Marijuana Now Party

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Legal Marijuana Now Party
Chairperson Michael Ford
Founded 1998 (1998)
Headquarters 1835 Englewood Avenue
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55104
Newspaper Freedom Gazette
Ideology Marijuana legalization
Colors      Green
Seats in the Senate
0 / 100
Seats in the House
0 / 435
Governorships
0 / 50
State Upper House Seats
0 / 1,972
State Lower House Seats
0 / 5,411
Website
www.legalcannabisnow.org
Politics of the United States
Political parties
Elections
File:LegalMarijuanaNowLogo.jpg

Legal Marijuana Now is a single-issue political party in the United States. Established in 1998 to oppose drug prohibition. The party shares many of the political leftist values of the Green Party of the United States but with a greater emphasis on marijuana/hemp legalization issues.

The Legal Marijuana Now party is a an offshoot the Grassroots Party.[1]

Legal Marijuana Now is currently active in the U.S. states of Minnesota and Nebraska.

Platform

United States Bill of Rights

The permanent platform of the Legal Marijuana Now party is the Bill of Rights. Individual candidates' positions on issues vary from Libertarian to Green. All Legal Marijuana Now candidates would end marijuana/hemp prohibition, thus re-legalizing cannabis for all its uses.

Mascot

Cannabis leaf

The official mascot of the Legal Marijuana Now party is the cannabis leaf.

Marvelous Leaf Guy is a personification of the mascot that was first drawn as part of the cartoon "Marijuana Legalization in Minnesota is Not Inevitable" on April 20, 2015, by artist and standup comedian Andy Schuler.

The party logo consists of a raised fist, superimposed with the cannabis leaf mascot and the name of the party, Legal Marijuana Now.

Proclamation banner

The party name is from the popular chant, "What do we want?" "Legal marijuana." "When do we want it?" "Now!"[1]

The official banner is the name of the party in white lettering, on an emerald green background. The letter 'O' in the word 'Now' on the banner is interwoven with a cannabis leaf.

Ideology

The Legal Marijuana Now Party pledge

  • Legalize homegrown cannabis
  • Erase past marijuana convictions
  • Ban employment drug testing

The Healing of a Nation

  • "Herb is the healing of a nation. Alcohol is the destruction." - Bob Marley (1945-1981)

In loving memory

Brownie Mary (1922-1999)

Brownie Mary

Mary Jane "Brownie Mary" Rathbun (1922-1999) was raised and educated in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Brownie Mary was arrested three times for baking "magical brownies" using her Social Security to buy ingredients and cannabis that was donated, giving them away free to AIDS and cancer patients.

In California in 1992 before medical marijuana was legalized there, Mary was able to successfully defend herself in court, arguing that medical necessity outweighed the reprehensibleness of her actions.

In Minnesota today Mary Jane Rathbun would be denied a fair trial. Her lawyer would not be allowed to discuss medical need and no doctor would be allowed to testify.[2] Legal Marijuana Now vows to fix the law in Minnesota.

Jack Herer

Jack Herer (1939-2010), author of The Emperor Wears No Clothes: Hemp & The Marijuana Conspiracy, was the Grassroots presidential candidate in 1988 and 1992.

Structure and composition

Grassroots movements and organizations utilize collective action from the local level to affect change at the local, regional, national, or international level. Grassroots movements are associated with bottom-up rather than top-down decision making.[3]

Grassroots political movement

Grassroots movements utilize a variety of strategies from fundraising and registering voters, to simply encouraging political conversation. Goals of specific movements vary, but the movements are consistent in their focus on increasing mass participation in politics. Grassroots political organizations derive their power from the people. Legal Marijuana Now Party seeks to engage ordinary people in political discourse to the greatest extent possible.

The Head Council

All decisions on important organizational and financial subjects, including candidate endorsements, must be reached by the Head Council, which consists of members with at least three consecutive years participation in the party and Officers elected by the members at the annual convention held in January.

State and local chapters

Legal Marijuana Now Party has state chapters in Minnesota and Nebraska. And Congressional District chapters in Saint Paul (MN-CD4) and Omaha.

History

Early History in Minnesota

In 1996 the Minnesota Grassroots Party split, forming the short-lived Independent Grassroots party. John Birrenbach was the Independent Grassroots Presidential candidate in 1996[4] and Dan Vacek was the Independent Grassroots candidate for US Representative (MN District 4).

In 1998, members of the Independent Grassroots Party formed the Legal Marijuana Now political party.

The Grassroots Party changed its name in 2014 to Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party. The political party remains active running candidates for office in the state of Minnesota.

1998 Legal Marijuana Now election results

Year Office Candidate Popular Votes Percentage
1998 US Representative 4 Dan Vacek 5,839 2.40%

Minnesota

From Political Principle to Political Party

In 2014, Dan Vacek ran for Minnesota Attorney General as the Legal Marijuana Now candidate and got 57,604 votes, qualifying the party to be officially recognized and to receive public funding from the state.[5][6]

Legal Marijuana Now Minnesota held its first meeting to convene and adopted a party constitution on November 26, 2014. Founding members Dan Vacek, Oliver Steinberg and Marty Super comprised the organization's Head Council during its initial year.

The Legal Marijuana Now Party placed a candidate, Zach Phelps, on the ballot in the Minnesota State Senate District 35 Special Election, in February 2016.[1]

Results in Minnesota state elections

Year Office Candidate Popular Votes Percentage
2014 MN Attorney General Dan Vacek 57,604 2.99%[7]
2016 MN State Senator 35 Zachary Phelps[1] 180 4.10%[8]

Defending Your Right to Garden the Earth

According to Legal Marijuana Now, the right to grow a garden is protected by the Minnesota Constitution.[9]

In the U.S. state of Minnesota, the permanent platform of the Legal Marijuana Now party includes Article I Section 1-17 of the Minnesota Constitution, known as the state Bill of Rights. And Article XIII Section 7, No License Required to Peddle, guaranteeing the right to sell or peddle the products of the farm or garden.

Iowa

Legal Marijuana Now Iowa is petitioning to put their presidential candidates on the ballot for 2016. If they receive 2% of the vote they can claim minor party access in Iowa.

Nebraska

Legal Marijuana Now Nebraska is petitioning to be recognized as a political party. That earns candidates inclusion in the official state voters guide.

Publications

Freedom Gazette Number 2, January-March 2016

Freedom Gazette

Minnesota Legal Marijuana Now Party's e-newsletter, Freedom Gazette, is published quarterly. It is currently edited by Dan Vacek.

The Weed

The Minnesota Weed newsletter is produced independently by Legal Marijuana Now Party co-founder Oliver Steinberg. It was originally conceived as a publication of the Minnesota chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (MN NORML). The Weed currently is published to promote the campaigns of candidates supporting Cannabis Rights from all parties, including the Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party, Legal Marijuana Now, Green Party, Libertarian Party and the major parties.

Legal Marijuana Now Party in the news

See also

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (2010) by Michelle Alexander

  • Legal scholar Michelle Alexander posits that the U.S. criminal justice system uses the War on Drugs as a primary tool for enforcing traditional, as well as new, modes of discrimination and repression. These new modes of racism have led to not only the highest rate of incarceration in the world, but also an even greater imprisonment of African American men. Alexander argues that the War on Drugs has had a devastating impact on inner city African American communities, on a scale entirely out of proportion to the actual dimensions of criminal activity taking place within these communities.

Drug War Crimes: The Consequences of Prohibition (2004) by Jeffrey Miron

  • The War on Drugs claims thousands of lives every year in the U.S. Each year, the government spends over $30 billion on the drug war and arrests 1.5 million American citizens on drug-related charges. There are now nearly half a million Americans imprisoned for drug offenses. The claim is that drug prohibition deters drug use, reduces crime, and improves public health. Harvard economics professor Jeffrey Miron offers a balanced and sophisticated analysis of the true costs, benefits, and consequences of drug prohibition. The evidence yields a disturbing finding: the more resources given to the Drug War, the greater the homicide rate.

References

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External links

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