For Immediate Release

The New York Times has recently published editorials calling for an end to marijuana prohibition. The Libertarian Party has held that same position for decades.

On July 27, 2014, the Times wrote : “… It has been more than 40 years since Congress passed the current ban on marijuana, inflicting great harm on society just to prohibit a substance far less dangerous than alcohol. … The federal government should repeal the ban on marijuana.”

On July 29, another Times editorial ( “The Injustice of Marijuana Arrests” ) pointed out the injustice and destructiveness of marijuana criminalization.

Libertarian Party Chair Nicholas Sarwark commented, “The War on Drugs, and particularly marijuana prohibition, has been an abject failure. Throwing people in jail for smoking marijuana is cruel and unusual punishment. As a public defender, my job has been to keep people out of cages. I’m glad the New York Times editorial board has come around on this issue.”

The War on Drugs was launched by President Richard Nixon in 1971, the same year that the Libertarian Party was founded.

Americans have come to agree more and more with the Libertarian Party. In 2012, the states of Colorado and Washington ended marijuana prohibition. Multiple recent polls have shown that a majority of Americans want to legalize marijuana.

It’s now time for the federal government, and the other 48 state governments, to do what most Americans want, and what the Libertarian Party has supported since its founding: end marijuana prohibition.