NZ gov't unveils draft cannabis legalization bill

New Zealand Government Unveils Marijuana Legalization Bill Ahead Of 2020 Referendum | Marijuana Moment- Kyle Jaeger

December 3, 2019 - "New Zealand residents got a first look on Tuesday at details of a draft marijuana legalization proposal that will be the subject of a voter referendum next year.... The draft bill outlines the basic elements of establishing a regulated cannabis market for adults. It will be updated with more details, taking feedback into account, ahead of the referendum vote. If more than 50 percent of voters approve the legislation, the incoming government will have to enact a law legalizing marijuana for adult use.

"The measure, as proposed, would set an age limit of 20 to purchase cannabis products, require marijuana to be consumed in private residences and licensed facilities, mandate investments in public health education campaigns, impose restrictions on advertising and create a licensing scheme for marijuana businesses. Individuals could purchase up to 14 grams of cannabis per day and cultivate up to two plants for personal use....

"Justice Minister Andrew Little said ... that he’s invited representatives of each party to meet on Thursday to discuss the proposal.,,, The Cabinet also unveiled policy positions that informed their decision to make the question of legalization a referendum issue.

"The agreed-upon primary objectives of the legislation are to promote policies in order to 'minimize harms associated with cannabis' and reduce rates of marijuana consumption through education and treatment programs. The secondary objectives are to eliminate the illicit market, reduce the prison population and ensure quality control for cannabis products.

"Early details about the legalization proposal were first released in May. The referendum on the issue is the product of a deal that the Green Party struck after agreeing to help install Labour Party head Jacinda Ardern as the prime minister.

"In early 2020, a more comprehensive bill will be issued to ensure that lawmakers, stakeholders and the public have ample time to consider its various provisions before its put to a vote."

Read more: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/new-zealand-government-unveils-marijuana-legalization-bill-ahead-of-2020-referendum/
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Tax money down the toilet (video)

$2 Million Bathroom | RealClearPolitics - John Stossel:

July 26, 2017 - "Did you see the $2 million dollar bathroom? That's what New York City government spent to build a 'comfort station' in a park. I went to look at it.... It's just a little building with four toilets and four sinks....

"New York City's bureaucrats are unapologetic about their $2 million toilet. The Parks Department even put out a statement saying, 'Our current estimate to build a new comfort station with minimal site work is $3 million'.... Yet not far away, Bryant Park has a bathroom that gets much more use. That bathroom cost just $300,000.

"Why the difference? Bryant Park is privately managed.... Since government spends other people's money, they don't care that much about cost and they certainly don't care much about speed....[I]magine what we could save if government turned construction of government housing, airports and roads over to the private sector."

Read more: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2017/07/26/2_million_bathroom_134569.html
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Psilocybin called breakthrough therapy by FDA

FDA Grants Psilocybin Second Breakthrough Therapy Designation - Megan Brooks:

November 25, 2019 - "The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the Usona Institute breakthrough therapy designation for psilocybin for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD).

"This marks the second time the FDA has granted breakthrough designation for psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in "magic mushrooms." In October 2018, Compass Pathways received the designation to test the safety and efficacy of psilocybin-assisted therapy for treatment-resistant depression....

"'The results from previous studies clearly demonstrate the remarkable potential for psilocybin as a treatment in MDD patients, which Usona is now seeking to confirm in its own clinical trials," Charles Raison, MD, Usona's director of clinical and translational research, said a news release.

"The Usona Institute is a nonprofit medical research organization that conducts and supports preclinical and clinical research to further the understanding of the therapeutic effects of psilocybin and other consciousness-expanding medicines....

"More than 17 million people in the United States suffer from MDD. Through the breakthrough therapy designation, psilocybin is recognized as possibly offering a clinically significant improvement over existing therapies.

"The new status follows the recent launch of Usona's phase 2 clinical trial (PSIL201), which will recruit roughly 80 patients at seven study sites around the United States. The study will assess the safety and efficacy of a single dose of psilocybin in comparison with placebo in patients aged 21 to 65 years who have MDD. Two of the study sites are currently recruiting patients; the others are expected to be active by the first quarter of 2020. Usona estimates that the trial will be completed by early 2021."

Read more: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/921789
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Texas judge blocks 3rd-party filing fees

Texas Libertarians celebrate as judge strikes down filing fees - HoustonChronicle.com - Taylor Goldstein:

December 6, 2019 - "One week before the filing deadline for Texas candidates, a judge in Harris County blocked the secretary of state from assessing a new fee for third-party candidates that was added by the Legislature this past session. Seven Libertarian voters and potential candidates sued over the law in state District Court in Harris County in October.

"Being freed of filing fees ranging from $750 for a candidate for state representative to $5,000 for a U.S. Senate election is a big advantage for a party that operates on a shoestring budget and whose candidates often run with little to no cash in their campaign coffers. 'It has had a massively positive impact in the last three days on candidate recruitment,' Neal Dikeman, a plaintiff in the lawsuit and a former Libertarian nominee for U.S. Senate in 2018, said Wednesday, adding that the party had previously expected recruitment to decrease by 50 to 90 percent....

"In a temporary injunction issued Monday, Judge Kristen Hawkins called the fees an 'actual or threatened violation of the Texas and United States Constitutions.' The injunction applies statewide.

“This temporary injunction was a crucial step to ensuring voters have choice at the ballot box, as half of all Texas races in 2018 would have been unopposed without Libertarian Party nominees,” said Harris County Libertarian Party Chair Katherine Youngblood, who represented the plaintiffs.

"While Democrats and Republicans are held to the same requirement ... [t]he money goes back to the parties through funding from the state for their primary elections. Third parties such as the Libertarians and the Greens, which nominate through conventions rather than primaries, do not receive such funding....

"A similar but broader lawsuit was filed by the Texas Libertarian Party, as well as the Texas Green Party and other third-party groups, in federal court in July. That lawsuit, which contests several parts of the law that they say limit third-party access to the ballot, is pending."

Read more: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/texas/article/Texas-Libertarians-celebrate-as-judge-strikes-14887294.php
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Six classic libertarian books

The Most Influential Libertarian Philosophers and Thinkers - The Libertarian Republic - Austin Petersen:

November 8, 2019 - "Libertarian thinkers focus on the rights of the individual.... They value the individual’s freedom of choice.... Below, we briefly introduce some of the most influential philosophers and thinkers who have shaped that way of thinking.

"David Boaz, a modern-day libertarian thinker, wrote [The Libertarian Mind] on the historical roots of libertarianism and he defines the basic philosophy of libertarianism in simple but deep terms. If a person is interested in finding out more about what the basic premise of the philosophy is they could start here.... The book is a thorough rendering of the basic economic and political thinking of this philosophy....

“The Law written by Frenchman Frederic Bastiat, ... was written in 1850, and attacked the 'legal plunder' or government directed taking of property by force. Bastiat, says that the original meaning of the law was to protect our basic rights but when it turns into a forced redistribution of property it destroys its own objective.... This defeats the whole intent of the law....

"Robert Nozick ... said [in Anarchy, State and Utopia] that the individual has the right to govern themselves in fact they have the most radical set of rights.... Nozick was a very smart person [who] birthed the self-ownership concept....

"The Machinery of Freedom was written by David Friedman and ... describes different levels of libertarian thinking.... Classic [liberals] allow for government to tax some services but minimalists allow for government to only provide services such as law enforcement, courts, etc. Anarcho-capitalists ... want to abolish any form of government ... to replace government with private and voluntary services.... Friedman ... fully embraces this radical form of libertarianism....

"The granddaddy of Libertarian books [is] Second Treatise of Civil Government [sic].... John Locke wrote this legendary book on libertarian thinking which was instrumental in the founding of the United States.... He came up with a hypothetical country in which government is limited in the affairs of people and ... human rights are developed. The government is to protect the rights of the people.

"Gustave de Molinari was a[n]  ... early 20th century Belgian philosopher who exceeded his counterparts in thinking about the role government should play in [The Production of Security].... He is one of the most underrated philosophers of recent times ... ahead of his time in his thinking about libertarian philosophy."

Read more: https://thelibertarianrepublic.com/the-most-influential-libertarian-philosophers-and-thinkers/
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Libertarian law student group forming in Canada

Libertarian student group Runnymede Society seeks to shake up Canada’s legal culture - The Globe and Mail - Sean Fine:

September 10, 2019 - "A libertarian student group has developed a growing presence in law schools, where it seeks to shake up a legal culture it views as devoutly uncritical of the Supreme Court and established Canadian legal norms. From a tiny group on a handful of campuses three years ago, the Runnymede Society now has a presence on nearly all of the country’s 18 law campuses....

"Similar to the influential Federalist Society in the United States, which also started as a student group, Runnymede has a core view that judges too often are guided by their own political preferences, rather than applying the law. In its first book of essays, published late last month with the provocative title Attacks on the Rule of Law From Within, and in edgy remarks at its events from leading judges, it has sought to spark a debate on some cherished Canadian principles, such as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms being a living tree that changes with the times.

"'Obviously the Canadian legal community is a small community, and the game is influencing the influencers, says Joanna Baron, a Runnymede founder and now the executive director of its parent group, the Calgary-based Canadian Constitution Foundation....

"Runnymede, which is non-partisan, has 'partnered' with the Federalist Society for some of its events, accepting speakers from the U.S. group, says Runnymede national director Mark Mancini, whose website biography says he has 'a mandate to shift the legal culture in Canada towards liberty.' (Runnymede is the name of the meadow where the Magna Carta was written in the 12th century.)...

"The Runnymede Society says it is not socially conservative and does not have the Federalist Society’s deep attachment to originalism – the idea that the Constitution should be interpreted as its authors intended, rather than according to the living-tree approach widely used in Canadian courts. But it wants students exposed to both views, Ms. Baron says....

"And 'liberty-oriented legal arguments are still seen as outliers.' One example of a liberty-oriented argument comes in the biggest case under way involving the Canadian Constitution Foundation – the eight-year-old Cambie Surgeries case in Vancouver, in which the foundation has retained leading lawyers to argue for a right to private medical care....

"Runnymede Society has a $250,000 annual budget, Mr. Mancini says, and gives charitable-tax receipts through the Canadian Constitution Foundation, which received just more than $5-million in donations in the year ending in March, 2019, from individuals and foundations. The biggest part of those donations was given for the Cambie case, Ms. Baron said....

"With the exception of a grant of about $10,000 from the U.S.-based Atlas Network, which funds groups supporting the rule of law and free markets, it has received no money from foreign sources, Ms. Baron said."

Read more: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-libertarian-student-group-runnymede-society-seeks-to-shake-up-legal/
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Ontario LP asks town to stop mass eviction

This is shameful. There is snow on the ground in Ontario. Nightly temperatures are below zero. People can die outside in this weather. Yet Napanee town council wants to evict 20 formerly homeless people living in an unlicensed, unzoned trailer park - just in time for Christmas! Kudos to the Ontario Libertarian Party for speaking out. -George J. Dance

Advocate asks Napanee town council to allow homeless trailers, for now | The Kingston Whig-Standard - Meghan Balogh:

November 29, 2019 - "The leader of the Ontario Libertarian Party spoke to Greater Napanee town council on Tuesday on behalf of a man offering illegal housing for homeless people. Keith Komar ... spoke in support of what he and others are calling the Stepping Stone Homeless Shelter — a collection of trailers that Napanee resident Scott Drader has assembled to house homeless individuals on his property.... In a letter dated Nov. 15, 2019, the Town of Greater Napanee told Drader to stop using his property as a trailer park, and gave him a deadline of Nov. 25 to remove the trailers....

“'I’m here today to ask the council to provide a stay on the order of cease and desist until at least April 1, to allow Scott to work towards a more permanent solution to this very grave situation,' Komar said to council. Drader currently has five trailers housing 13 people without homes. Another seven are living in his house. The individuals pay him $390 per month to cover hydro and heating costs.

"Komar described a 'groundswell of support' behind Drader’s cause, including a petition with more than 1,500 signatures in his support.... Komar acknowledged that Drader is breaking a zoning bylaw by housing people in trailers on his property. Komar said he is going to be assisting Drader in applying for a minor variance to the zoning bylaw.

"He pointed out that what Drader is doing isn’t costing the Town of Greater Napanee or its taxpayers any money — Komar referenced crowdfunding and said he would also be helping Drader set up a non-profit organization. According to Komar, Drader’s end goal is a 'tiny home park,' either at his current location or in a new location.

"Komar told council that he knows Drader’s setup is 'not a perfect solution,' but that it’s better than nothing. 'I understand it’s not an ideal situation for these people, but for now in the interim, until we can work together to put something together that works better, it’s better than on the street,' Komar said. 'I want you guys to consider that'....

"Coun. Dave Pinnell Jr. asked that people stop referring to the property as a trailer park.... Coun. John McCormack ... pointed out that Drader was told at a council meeting in June 2018 that his property was nonconforming.... 'You here tonight, knowing him for five days, asking for us to make changes to the situation … who’s to say that next year we’re not five extra trailers, 10 more trailers?'...

"Council members [also] raised concerns about safety, including heat, water and sanitation. Komar said the trailers have had health inspections and have been examined by the fire inspector.... 'I would ask you to think on what is a greater health risk: being at the trailer park where Scott has a roof over their heads, or to sleep on the streets,' Komar said."

Read more: https://www.thewhig.com/news/local-news/advocate-asks-napanee-town-council-to-allow-homeless-trailers-for-now
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