Legal Marijuana Now Party

United States Bill of Rights

The permanent platform of the Legal Marijuana Now party is the Bill of Rights. All Legal Marijuana Now candidates would end marijuana/hemp prohibition, thus re-legalizing cannabis for all its uses.

Social democracy

The Legal Marijuana Now Party is a grassroots group that derives their strength from the people. Legal Marijuana Now Party is pro-labor and anti-war. Prohibition endangers public safety by fostering corruption, curtailing civil liberties, and perpetuating racism. The Legal Marijuana Now Party believes legalization would bring more jobs and money into the economy.

Ecological democracy

The hemp plant provides multiple durable goods such as rope, fabric, industrial oil, and biofuel. Cannabis itself is food and medicine.

According to Mark Elworth, Jr., the Legal Marijuana Now Party candidate for vice president in 2016, "Let's let farmers produce environmentally-friendly hemp again."

Cannabis leaf

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

Marvelous Cannabis Leaf 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.

Panda

A panda wearing a cannabis-leaf shirt is an alternate mascot of the Legal Marijuana Now Party.

Logo

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

Colors

Legal Marijuana Now Party official colors are the Rastafari colors, green, gold, and red, and sometimes black. The colors are from the flag of Ethiopia and are also the colors of the Youth International Party flag.

Alternate colors for the Legal Marijuana Now Party are a rainbow flag, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet, representing inclusiveness.

And alternate Legal Marijuana Now Party colors are red, white, and blue, representing the flag of the United States.

Banner

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.

Name

The Yippies took ownership of the word marijuana. And during the 1960s and 1970s era of Flower Power it was turned into a fighting word representing strength and solidarity.

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

Floyd Olson's Minnesota branch of the Farmer-Labor Party provided the inspiration to name Legal Marijuana Now so that the message is clear and easy to understand.

The Legal Marijuana Now Party pledge

Philosophy of the Legal Marijuana Now Party

The Legal Marijuana Now Party philosophy is from the Bible. The Book of Revelation (22:2) states, "The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations."

In a speech to the Saint Paul branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in October 2014, Legal Marijuana Now candidate for Attorney General of Minnesota, Dan Vacek, said, "Like alcohol prohibition, drug prohibition must be repealed and replaced by regulation, education, and moderation. When we take that step, we take the first step toward healing our nation."

Movement

Grassroots organizations are associated with bottom-up rather than top-down decision making. The Legal Marijuana Now Party seeks to engage ordinary people in political discourse to the greatest extent possible.

Leadership

All decisions on important organizational and financial subjects must be reached by the leadership Head Council, which consists of Legal Marijuana Now Party 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 Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Wyoming. And Congressional District chapters in Saint Paul and Omaha.

U.S. presidential candidates

In 2016, Legal Marijuana Now placed their presidential candidates on the ballot in two states, Iowa and Minnesota. And as a write-in candidate nationwide.

Early History

The Youth International Party, formed in 1967 to advance the counterculture of the 1960s, often ran candidates for public office. The Yippie flag is a five-pointed star superimposed with a cannabis leaf.

The Grassroots Party was founded in Minnesota in 1986 and ran numerous candidates for state and federal offices. The party was active in Iowa, Minnesota, and Vermont. Grassroots Party ran candidates in every presidential election from 1988 to 2000.

In 1996 the Minnesota Grassroots Party split, forming the short-lived Independent Grassroots Party. John Birrenbach was the Independent Grassroots Presidential candidate in 1996 and Dan Vacek was the Independent Grassroots candidate for United States Representative, District 4, in 1996.

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

Iowa history

Legal Marijuana Now Iowa placed their presidential candidates on the 2016 ballot by petitioning the state. If the party receives two-percent of the vote in a statewide race they can claim minor party access in Iowa. Legal Marijuana Now Iowa is organizing a petition drive to put candidates onto the ballot in 2018.

Minnesota history

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.

Legal Marijuana Now Minnesota held their first convention and adopted a party constitution on November 26, 2014. Founding members Oliver Steinberg, Marty Super, and Dan Vacek comprised the organization's 2015 leadership council.

In 2016, Michael Ford was elected chairperson of the Minnesota Legal Marijuana Now Party.

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.

Results in federal elections in Minnesota

Minnesota does not allow voters to petition to put the law itself onto the ballot for a vote. The only petition the people can use in Minnesota is to nominate independent and third party candidates for office. In Minnesota, there is a two-week petitioning period in May 2018. If there is a special election meanwhile, the petitioning window for a special election is only one week in length. Legal Marijuana Now Minnesota is organizing a petition drive to put candidates onto the ballot in the 2018 election.

According to Legal Marijuana Now Minnesota, the right to grow a garden is protected by the Minnesota Constitution. The Minnesota Legal Marijuana Now Party and other state legalization organizations are lobbying the Legislature to give the people of Minnesota a chance to vote for cannabis in 2018.

The proposed ballot wording is "Shall Art. XIII, Sec. 7, be amended to authorize the licensing of cultivation or sales of Cannabis by persons in Minnesota, but not by corporations?"

Nebraska history

Legal Marijuana Now Nebraska is petitioning to be recognized as a major political party. That earns candidates inclusion in the official state voters guide. To make the ballot, Legal Marijuana Now Party must have valid signatures equal to at least one-percent of the total votes cast for governor in 2014, or 5,397 signatures statewide. The party also must have a certain number of signatures from each of the state's three congressional districts.

In July, 2016, volunteers turned in 9,000 signatures to the Nebraska Secretary of State. However, the Secretary of State said that half of the signatures were invalid, falling short of the 5,397 needed.

In Nebraska, voters can petition to put the law itself onto the ballot for a vote. Legal Marijuana Now Party organizer Mark Elworth is circulating a new petition to secure ballot access for the party. And, at the same time, Nebraska Legal Marijuana Now is petitioning to put an initiative to decriminalize non-medical cannabis onto the statewide ballot in 2018.

New Mexico history

Legal Marijuana Now New Mexico is petitioning to become a recognized political party in the state of New Mexico.

Nevada History

Legal Marijuana Now Nevada is petitioning to become a recognized political party in the state of Nevada.

Wyoming history

Marijuana Now Wyoming is organizing a petition drive to become a recognized political party in the state of Wyoming.

Freedom Gazette

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

The Weed

The Minnesota Weed newsletter is produced independently by Legal Marijuana Now Party co-founder Oliver Steinberg. The Weed newsletter was originally conceived in 1982 as a publication of the Minnesota chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. The Weed currently is published to promote campaigns of candidates from all parties who support the rights of people who consume cannabis.

Criticism

Critics of the Legal Marijuana Now Party either apologize for the harms of prohibition and argue that personal use of cannabis should remain banned.

Bro, Or Legal Marijuana Now Party critics, whether pro-cannabis or not, argue that involvement in third parties, contrary to the intended goal of increasing voter-participation, steals votes from progressive candidates in important elections. Though third party candidates do get elected across the United States from time to time, according to an editorial in The New York Times, "a third-party candidate ... will most assuredly lose."

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