I’d like to take a moment to come out as a supporter of legalizing marijuana. I’m not gonna lay out all the reasons I feel that way (how prohibition doesn’t protect your kids from getting it and how it’s not a gateway drug and so forth) but I thought it’s important to say that; partly because I’m thinking that my online business may have something to do with the field of marijuana activism. It’s really important to me. For me, this isn’t just about people’s right to smoke and get away with it. This is about the fact that marijuana is in no way dangerous enough to justify the punishment suffered by people who get caught smoking it. Except in those few states where possession is considered a civil infraction, those who are arrested for smoking pot get a criminal record. Having a criminal record – especially for a drug offense – greatly impacts a person’s ability to get a job or funding for education. This is a huge deal. This is a direct road to poverty, which lies at the heart of most of America’s problems. Marijuana isn’t bad enough to warrant denying people a job or an education. It isn’t worth the impact on society in terms of the poverty prohibition leads to.
I have a couple of text-to-speech PSAs about this on Youtube. Enjoy:
Alcohol: The Gate-Way Drug
Prohibition: Save the Children!
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