Know Your Marijuana Facts And Spread Them As Far As You Can
One of my favorite things is talking to people about marijuana reform that don’t know much about the topic. I have found time after time that if people are presented with the facts about marijuana in a constructive way, they will support reform. It’s like playing wiffle ball. That’s not a testament to my persuasion skills; it’s a reflection on how horrible America’s current marijuana policies are.
I talk to seniors about medical marijuana any chance I get. Seniors suffer from all kinds of ailments that are usually treated with an array of harmful pharmaceuticals. To quote Robert ‘the Tuna’ Platshorn, “as an aging senior, my doctor wants me to take six medications to try to treat all my ailments, and then another six drugs to combat the side effects of the first six drugs they want to prescribe me. I told them I can clean out half of my medicine cabinet by just using cannabis, which is safer, cheaper, and works ten times better.”
Americans have been told that marijuana is bad for so many decades, that it’s ingrained in the sub-conscience of many citizens. Many of them don’t even know why they are against marijuana, they just know that they are. I ask everyone of these types of people for facts to support their opposition to marijuana reform, and 99% of the time they have nothing to offer. The other 1% of the time it’s someone that hates marijuana so much, that the ‘facts’ they present are so full of subjectivity that I don’t even waste my time. I hear their spiel, and move on to a conversation that is more constructive and worthwhile with someone that is more open minded. I have yet to hear a compelling case against marijuana reform that is based on facts and reality.
To those people that I talk to that don’t have any facts to present against marijuana reform, I have experienced an overwhelming success rate in changing their minds. All I do is spout out the facts that I have memorized, and I let the truth speak for itself. Some people require more facts (and sometimes citations) than others, but at the end of the conversation, it almost always ends with them saying, ‘If I knew this information before, I would have supported marijuana reform sooner.’
So I encourage all marijuana activists to get educated! Learn state laws, federal laws, case law, science, research, poll results, etc. The more information you know, the more information you can spread to the world. If people hear the facts, they will be convinced it’s time to end marijuana prohibition; it’s literally that simple. There are countless Americans that support marijuana reform already. If every one of us made it a daily goal to talk to one new person about marijuana facts, how many days would it take to reach every voter in the country?
When you look at it in those terms, it seems really easy. We could cut that time in half if we all talked to two people a day. If we could convince people to not only vote for marijuana reform, but to talk to one or two people a day themselves, we could spread the information to voters exponentially. But realize, we want to have good information going out to people, so GET EDUCATED! If you need help looking for good places to get started, send me an e-mail and I’ll gladly reply with links.
