We Are the 50% (Who Support Legalizing Weed)
Apparently a lot of people—including some celebrities(!)—are totally in favor of legalizing a little thing called marijuana. Techcrunch.com reports on a new website called Marijuana Majority, which makes it pretty clear that a lot of people in this country don’t see what the big deal is about legalizing pot. And many of the people who support reform in the drug laws are people who are personally very wealthy and successful. So, despite what I learned in high school health class, it seems that not everyone who smokes pot one SINGLE time will end up under the West Side Highway letting some old dude go down on them so that they can scrounge together some quarters to support their girlfriend’s meth habit. Probably their girlfriend is named Tiffany. I don’t even know as the whole idea of that scene depresses me thoroughly.
So! Who out there is a total pothead? You might be surprised.
Marijuana Majority has collected a bunch of quotes from people ranging from David Koch to Morgan Freeman to Richard Branson to Jon Stewart, all of whom think the criminalization of marijuana use is ridiculous. What’s innovative about this site is that it encourages people to get involved and help make a difference in a really direct way by using social media to pester more influential people into helping affect change. Obviously, this year is a big election year, but here in New York, our votes count for basically nothing. We’re a blue state. Everyone should go out and vote anyway, of course, but it’s easy to feel that we don’t have much say in anything.
The Marijuana Majority is trying to show you otherwise; it’s trying to show that, per their website, “Bad laws change when good people speak up.” So even if this isn’t your pet cause, maybe it’ll be an inspiration to go out and affect change in another way. Like advocating for more bike lanes, maybe do that. Bike lanes are proven to make people safer. The point is, do something. And if that something you decide to do is support a reform of the drug laws? I, personally, think that might not be a bad place to start. Because everyone, even the NYPD, acknowledges that there is a huge problem in arresting our city’s youth for a crime that hardly seems any more serious than that of drinking beer on a stoop.
Follow Kristin Iversen on twitter @kmiversen
