The Wake County Libertarian Party will host a discussion on alcohol and drug policy starting at 7:30pm tomorrow night, Thursday, October 27th at The Gourmet Factory on Western Boulevard. Moderated by Olen Watson, Libertarian candidate for NC House 38 and Brad Hessel, Libertarian candidate for NC Senate 15, this will be the fifth and final in a series of meetups that address key issues leading up to the 2016 general election.

“We will be looking at whether the citizens of North Carolina are best served by restrictions on the sale and availability of alcohol that were put in place after the end of prohibition nearly 90 years ago,” stated Watson. “Would the benefits of choice and convenience we could gain by enabling a free market in alcohol outweigh the downside?”

“We will also be looking at ending the prohibition on the cultivation and use of marijuana in North Carolina,” added Hessel. “The benefits in terms of bringing the law into congruence with the way many people actually live their lives, eliminating a ‘victimless crime’ that clogs the criminal justice system and negatively affects the lives of many otherwise law-abiding citizens, and redirecting revenues from drug cartels to legitimate, tax-paying local companies are well understood, but we also now have some data from the experience of Colorado and Washington that bear on some of the concerns that have been raised about legalization.”

The full schedule of events includes:

• Thu Aug 4th—Environmental Policy hosted by Brian Lewis (replay on YouTube)
• Thu Aug 18th—Electoral Reform hosted by Brad Hessel (replay on YouTube)
• Thu Sep 15th—Education hosted by Olen Watson (replay on YouTube)
• Thu Sep 29th—Transportation hosted by Brian Lewis (replay on YouTube)
• Thu Oct 27th—Booze & Pot hosted by Olen Watson & Brad Hessel (webcast on YouTube)

All the meetups are scheduled to be held starting at 7:30pm EDT at the unofficial HQ of the WakeLP, The Gourmet Factory on Western Boulevard and will be webcast live and archived on the WakeLP YouTube channel. For more details, check out the WakeLP Facebook events page or the Triangle Libertarian Meetup page.