Cannabis political parties of the United States
Marijuana political parties have flourished in U.S. states, including Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont.
[7][8] The Youth International Party was established in New York on New Year's Eve, 1967, by a group of writers and activists including Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, to advance the counterculture of the 1960s.
[18][19] Yippies’ sensational statements before the convention were part of the theatrics, including a tongue-in-cheek threat to put LSD in Chicago's water supply.
[29][30][31] YIP promoted the creation of alternative, counterculture institutions such as artist collectives, food co-ops, flea markets, free clinics, pirate radio, public-access television.
Yippies together with other overlapping and intermingling counter-cultural groups that included Deadheads, the Rainbow Family, and White Panthers, believed cooperative alternative institutions could spread to dwarf and eventually replace capitalist economic systems.
Robert Melamede, a genetic researcher and microbiologist whose views promoting the curative properties of cannabis put him at odds with mainstream academia, was Grassroots nominee for U.S.
The group was established by Oliver Steinberg who together with others, Tim Davis, Derrick Grimmer, and Chris Wright, had previously founded the Grassroots Party of Minnesota, in 1986.
[46] In January 2023, Grassroots–Legalize Cannabis Party chairperson Oliver Steinberg told the Minnesota Senate Public Safety Committee that marijuana prohibition has not kept people from using the drug, but has “succeeded perhaps in terrorizing or intimidating citizens, in canceling civil liberties, blighting both urban and rural communities, all without eradicating the outlawed substance.”[47] Steinberg, who was 2020 G—L C Party nominee for U.S.
Senator, wrote in Star Tribune, “cannabis prohibition never was necessary; always was unjust and unjustifiable; and always lacked moral authority because it was actually designed to serve as a legal mechanism for racial repression.”[48] The New Jersey Legalize Marijuana Party was established in 1998 by Edward Forchion to protest cannabis prohibition.
[51] Forchion ran for US Representative in 1998, Camden County Freeholder in 1999, New Jersey Governor in 2005, and United States Senator in 2006.
[55] In 2014, the Legal Marijuana Now candidate for Minnesota Attorney General got 57,604 votes, qualifying the party to be officially recognized and to receive public funding from the state.
[61][62] Wilber bowling alley proprietor Leroy Lopez ran for Nebraska Auditor of Public Accounts, in 2022.
[64][65] Bolinger, received 188,648 votes, more than 30 percent, the highest share for a statewide Nebraska candidate running outside the two major parties in 86 years, when independent George Norris was reelected to U.S.
[69] Without remedy for replacing their deceased nominee, under state law, Legal Marijuana Now encouraged supporters to cast their votes for Overby, whose name remained on ballots.
[81][82] Galen Dively ran for Vermont Senator, in 2016, as a Marijuana Party candidate and finished with 2,443 votes, or 9.5 percent.
[86][87] Mark Elworth, a resident of Council Bluffs, was nominated by petition to run independently for U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 3rd congressional district under the banner of “Legal Medical Now,” in 2018.
[79][80] The Grassroots Party was established in Minnesota in 1986, by Tim Davis, Derrick Grimmer, Oliver Steinberg, and Chris Wright, in response to Ronald Reagan's War on Drugs.
[51][94] Grassroots Party nominated David Daniels, an African American playwright from Minneapolis, in 2000, as candidate for U.S. Senate.
[96] In 2014, the Legal Marijuana Now candidate for Minnesota Attorney General got 57,604 votes, qualifying the party to receive public funding from the state.
Federal judges ruled that the election should go ahead,[101][102] so the name of the candidate who was nominated by Legal Marijuana Now Party to replace Weeks, was not on the ballot.
[68] Overby, an information technology director and author of the 2017 book The Transgender Myth, and previous 2020 Legal Marijuana Now Party District 2 nominee, died On October 5, 2022, during recovery in a hospital following surgery for a heart valve condition.
[105][106] Without remedy for replacing their deceased nominee, under state law, LMN encouraged supporters to cast their votes for Overby, who remained on the ballot.
[72] Beginning in 2015, Mark Elworth, and Krystal Gabel collected signatures for a Marijuana Party of Nebraska to be officially recognized.
Bolinger, a resident of Alliance, focused on legalization of marijuana and expanding drug courts in the race to unseat Doug Peterson, who was seeking his third term as attorney general.
[64][65] Leroy Lopez, a Wilber bowling alley owner, ran for Nebraska Auditor of Public Accounts, in 2022.
Cannabis Party organizers Nathaniel Gurien and Kaitlyn McCarthy were unable to gather enough signatures to secure ballot access, in 2022.
[6] In 1967, the Youth International Party was formed in New York City by Abbie and Anita Hoffman, Paul Krassner, Nancy Kurshan, and Jerry Rubin.
Robert Melamede, a genetic researcher and microbiologist whose views promoting medical marijuana put him at odds with mainstream academia, was Grassroots nominee for U.S.
[41][42] GRP placed their presidential candidates, Dennis Peron, who opened the first San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club in 1991, and running mate Arlin Troutt, onto ballots in two states, Vermont and Minnesota, in 1996.
[83] Retired labor union official Rick Payne was on the Washington House of Representatives August, 2014, primary ballot as a Marijuana Party candidate.
