I am always impressed with how Tom Angell and his project ‘Marijuana Majority’ are able to get celebrities and politicians on the record about marijuana policy. There have always been politicians and celebrities that have consumed marijuana and supported marijuana reform. However, they did so in the shadows, and that helped perpetuate marijuana prohibition because people didn’t think they were in the majority (hence why marijuana majority is a great name!). Marijuana Majority does an amazing job of getting these people out of the shadows, on the record, and displays it for the world to see on their website. Below is the question and response from new host of NBC’s Meet the Press Chuck Todd during his Reddit Ask Me Anything. I encourage everyone to donate to Marijuana Majority so they can continue their great work:
Chuck’s take on the role of the marijuana debate from his Reddit #AMA:
MarijuanaMajority’s Question: Polling now consistently shows majority support for legalizing marijuana and supermajorities for medical marijuana and for letting states set their own laws without federal interference. Yet, to date, few national politicians have embraced these changes (including former marijuana enthusiast Barack Obama, whose administration could unilaterally reschedule the drug without further congressional action if he wanted to).
What do you think it’s going to take to bridge this disconnect between growing voter support and lack of action by elected officials, and what role do you see this issue playing in the 2016 presidential race?chucktoddnbc’s Reply:
Well, many of Colorado’s DC politicians are quietly lobbying other colleagues from other states to embrace the issue, more so that Colorado doesn’t look like an outlier or is somehow stereotyped. I think the next presidential election is likely to have both nominees end up supporting decriminalizing and it’s going to take voters to decide whether they want those candidates to pledge to declassify marijuana from a schedule 1 controlled substance if they win. I don’t think this administration is ready to do that (maybe I’m wrong) but if the candidates running in 2016 are asked to pledge on it, I wouldn’t be surprised if most agree or come close to agreeing…
