October 22, 2012 |
Photo Credit: Shutter Stock
The war on marijuana has failed. Pretty much everyone knows it.
But too many people
who support replacing marijuana prohibition with legalization or decriminalization are afraid to say so. Because they don't realize that a majority of Americans -- including some of the most influential voices from across the political spectrum -- feel exactly the same way, these silenced supporters see speaking out as risky.
Marijuana Majority , a new organization that we and other longtime drug policy reformers are launching today, seeks to help people understand that ending our ineffective and harmful marijuana prohibition laws not only makes perfect policy sense, but is a completely mainstream position that enjoys broad support.
On MarijuanaMajority.com, we've collected in one place quotes and videos from politicians, religious leaders, celebrities, medical professionals, members of law enforcement and others who think it's time to end the war on marijuana.
Opposing marijuana prohibition is probably the one and only thing that progressive comedian Bill Maher, conservative businessman David Koch, actor Morgan Freeman and rapper Snoop Dogg all have in common. These opinion leaders all think our marijuana criminalization laws don't work, cause harm and need to change. And more voters agree with them than disagree.
Even though more and more Americans are joining the Marijuana Majority every day, there's still a deafening silence about this issue from too many national politicians -- including President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
At a time when he needs to re-energize supporters (especially young people, a demographic that overwhelmingly favors marijuana reform) to turn out to vote for him, why has President Obama not only ignored or laughed off marijuana legalization questions nearly every time they've been posed to him, but overseen an unprecedented federal crackdown on state medical marijuana programs despite previous campaign pledges that he would respect such laws?
In an election year when young, libertarian-leaning voters brought new enthusiasm into the Republican primary process in support of pro-legalization candidate Ron Paul, why can't Mitt Romney seem to grasp that supporting marijuana reform would be an effective way to keep these young and energetic voters engaged with his party?
Thankfully, a growing number of state lawmakers and voters aren’t waiting for the federal government to act and are taking matters into their own hands by passing legislation or putting initiatives on the ballot.
Whether or not any of the marijuana legalization initiatives on the ballots in Colorado, Oregon and Washington pass this November -- and polls indicate there's a good chance at least one will -- it is absolutely clear that the movement to end marijuana prohibition is continuing to pick up steam and is not going away any time soon.
We hope that by shining a spotlight on many of the prominent voices who are speaking up in favor of reforming bad marijuana laws -- and are being universally praised, not attacked, for it -- Marijuana Majority can help more politicians realize that there are many votes to be gained, and very few to be lost, by joining the chorus for change.
But more than just merely tracking the large number of prominent people and organizations that are already a part of the Marijuana Majority, we are going to be regularly asking for your help to grow the majority and make the movement for change even more powerful.
By making the quotes and videos on our site easily sharable via social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, we've made it easy for you to help spread the word that most sensible people agree it is time to change the marijuana laws. Just think about how much more likely your dad or your aunt would be to tell their co-workers that they support legalizing marijuana if only they knew that they could say, "Even evangelical Christian leader Pat Robertson agrees!" When you take advantage of the sharing tools we've made available on MarijuanaMajority.com, you are helping to make it much more likely that these kinds of important conversations will take place.
And, even more excitingly, we've built the site in a way that makes it more likely that influential celebrities and opinion leaders will add their voices to the emerging marijuana policy debate. Whenever you visit MarijuanaMajority.com, you'll see that we've selected a handful of prominent people who we believe are likely to support changing marijuana laws but just haven't been given the opportunity to say so publicly yet. We've made it easy for you to tweet pre-written messages to these people with just a couple of clicks. When you and enough other supporters take action and inundate these celebrities and elected officials with tweet after tweet about marijuana policy, many will be sure to take note and speak up.
These are just a few of the ways that Marijuana Majority intends to influence the emerging debate about our failed marijuana laws and how to fix them.
So please, take some time to read the quotes and watch the videos we have compiled. But don't stop there. Make sure to share the content with your social networks and tweet at some celebrities. With your help, we can and will help more people understand that speaking out is the right thing to do.
Tom Angell is the founder and chairman of Marijuana Majority . Perry Rosenstein is a board member and website engineer.
But too many people
who support replacing marijuana prohibition with legalization or decriminalization are afraid to say so. Because they don't realize that a majority of Americans -- including some of the most influential voices from across the political spectrum -- feel exactly the same way, these silenced supporters see speaking out as risky.
Marijuana Majority , a new organization that we and other longtime drug policy reformers are launching today, seeks to help people understand that ending our ineffective and harmful marijuana prohibition laws not only makes perfect policy sense, but is a completely mainstream position that enjoys broad support.
On MarijuanaMajority.com, we've collected in one place quotes and videos from politicians, religious leaders, celebrities, medical professionals, members of law enforcement and others who think it's time to end the war on marijuana.
Opposing marijuana prohibition is probably the one and only thing that progressive comedian Bill Maher, conservative businessman David Koch, actor Morgan Freeman and rapper Snoop Dogg all have in common. These opinion leaders all think our marijuana criminalization laws don't work, cause harm and need to change. And more voters agree with them than disagree.
Even though more and more Americans are joining the Marijuana Majority every day, there's still a deafening silence about this issue from too many national politicians -- including President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
At a time when he needs to re-energize supporters (especially young people, a demographic that overwhelmingly favors marijuana reform) to turn out to vote for him, why has President Obama not only ignored or laughed off marijuana legalization questions nearly every time they've been posed to him, but overseen an unprecedented federal crackdown on state medical marijuana programs despite previous campaign pledges that he would respect such laws?
In an election year when young, libertarian-leaning voters brought new enthusiasm into the Republican primary process in support of pro-legalization candidate Ron Paul, why can't Mitt Romney seem to grasp that supporting marijuana reform would be an effective way to keep these young and energetic voters engaged with his party?
Thankfully, a growing number of state lawmakers and voters aren’t waiting for the federal government to act and are taking matters into their own hands by passing legislation or putting initiatives on the ballot.
Whether or not any of the marijuana legalization initiatives on the ballots in Colorado, Oregon and Washington pass this November -- and polls indicate there's a good chance at least one will -- it is absolutely clear that the movement to end marijuana prohibition is continuing to pick up steam and is not going away any time soon.
We hope that by shining a spotlight on many of the prominent voices who are speaking up in favor of reforming bad marijuana laws -- and are being universally praised, not attacked, for it -- Marijuana Majority can help more politicians realize that there are many votes to be gained, and very few to be lost, by joining the chorus for change.
But more than just merely tracking the large number of prominent people and organizations that are already a part of the Marijuana Majority, we are going to be regularly asking for your help to grow the majority and make the movement for change even more powerful.
By making the quotes and videos on our site easily sharable via social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, we've made it easy for you to help spread the word that most sensible people agree it is time to change the marijuana laws. Just think about how much more likely your dad or your aunt would be to tell their co-workers that they support legalizing marijuana if only they knew that they could say, "Even evangelical Christian leader Pat Robertson agrees!" When you take advantage of the sharing tools we've made available on MarijuanaMajority.com, you are helping to make it much more likely that these kinds of important conversations will take place.
And, even more excitingly, we've built the site in a way that makes it more likely that influential celebrities and opinion leaders will add their voices to the emerging marijuana policy debate. Whenever you visit MarijuanaMajority.com, you'll see that we've selected a handful of prominent people who we believe are likely to support changing marijuana laws but just haven't been given the opportunity to say so publicly yet. We've made it easy for you to tweet pre-written messages to these people with just a couple of clicks. When you and enough other supporters take action and inundate these celebrities and elected officials with tweet after tweet about marijuana policy, many will be sure to take note and speak up.
These are just a few of the ways that Marijuana Majority intends to influence the emerging debate about our failed marijuana laws and how to fix them.
So please, take some time to read the quotes and watch the videos we have compiled. But don't stop there. Make sure to share the content with your social networks and tweet at some celebrities. With your help, we can and will help more people understand that speaking out is the right thing to do.
Tom Angell is the founder and chairman of Marijuana Majority . Perry Rosenstein is a board member and website engineer.
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