THE BEST 4 MINUTES ABOUT MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION YET SPOKEN—Do your part—Help this piece go viral! G.R.
By George Rohrbacher, NORML Board of Directors, medical marijuana patient
In the decade that I’ve been on NORML’s board, I’ve worked with scores of bright, accomplished and passionate advocates for ending America’s 74-years of marijuana prohibition. Like never before, these voices are building into a chorus calling for the end of this cruel prohibition, whose penalties are suffered most by the poor, the young and people of color. This disastrous prohibition has led to the arrest of over 22 million Americans on marijuana charges since 1965.
Last week, dripping with irony, at the very same time the Obama Administration was stiffing the American public’s most popular action petition (for marijuana legalization) and was declaring all-out war on medical marijuana through the DOJ, IRS, etc., at this very same moment in history, we saw the huge verification of the success of NORML’s steady approach, the fruit of decades of work changing public opinion on subject of pot legalization. FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1969, WHEN GALLUP POLLS STARTED ASKING THE QUESTION—50% OF AMERICANS NOW BELIEVE MARIJUANA SHOULD BE LEGAL!!
Reflecting on achieving this auspicious milestone of public opinion, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell gives America the very best 4 min. on marijuana legalization we have ever heard. He asks the question, how public opinion could have grown to 50%, while support in the US Senate for legalization still stays at 0%. How, he asks, can America’s politicians, law enforcement and judges callously stand by while millions of young lives are wrecked by marijuana prohibition?
O’Donnell, formerly chief of Staff for the Senate Finance Committee, has gone toe-to-toe with the movers and shakers in government many times before. But this time, on the subject of marijuana legalization, O’Donnell does some of his finest work. With arguments as razor-sharp as a battle axe, he relentlessly chops away at the system that gives us marijuana prohibition and enforced by alcohol-sodden public officials stewing in hypocrisy. O’Donnell’s piece should be linked to all marijuana-related communications you send out in the coming year, sent to everyone on your email list, every single public official.
Please, help this piece go VIRAL, where it belongs!
He was doing good there until the end..i dont know how they can sleep at night, whithout the booze…so he supports making alchohol ilegal?
@bobabaloo
No, his end point is actually very strong. He’s saying (in a literal sense) that they have to inebriate themselves in order to live with themselves (over marijuana criminalization and arrests), which showcases the hypocrisy of marijuana prohibition while other, potentially fatal, ways of getting inebriated are legalized–and often endorsed/used–by the very same politicians.
Simply, it concludes the point that innocent people are thrown in jail for consuming a harmless substance (in comparison to many OTC drugs, not to mention recreational drugs) while people do nothing about it and willingly accept a hypocritical system (thus, being hypocrites themselves and compounding the problem by consuming a harmful, inebriating substance).
That’s about as in-depth as I can get over one small, pathos statement.
the graph he showed looked like a penis.
Dear shitbird… you’re an idiot.
To the guy saying his doctor warned him about mouth cancer from marijuana… you’re doctor is an idiot (unless you also smoke tobacco). Lets just do some basic logical thinking here. Tobacco causes cancer when you, smoke it, snort it, or chew it. Why is it that we have assumed smoking is what is bad here? You have a product that causes cancer no matter which way it is ingested and you assume that smoke must be the cause? The obvious explanation is that other substances in tobacco are what causes cancer, not the act of smoking itself.
On another note: How many cases of pure marijuana users (those who don’t also smoke tobacco) get cancer in the mouth throat or lungs? Guess what? There are ZERO recorded cases. In fact there is more evidence to show marijuana cures cancer than that causes it.
Regardless of how you “feel” about Marijuana having it illegal is bad. Look at Heroin: in 1970 it was about 30 dollars a bag and 5-20% pure drug; now its about 5 dollars for the same size bag and is 90-96% pure drug…adjusting for inflation that is around a 9000% decrease in price (meaning the war on drugs made it cheaper, stronger, and more widely available).
Look at the Netherlands where you can buy it in a store. They have almost no smokers below the age of 18 (where here in the US its estimated as much as half of all weed smokers are under 18). A store that sells weed isn’t going to sell to someone below 18 cause the risk of losing a license is too great, but a illegal drug dealer doesn’t even card you. Oh also because he is an illegal drug dealer and has no government oversight the weed he sells could be laced with anything.
No this is not a good video supporting legalizing marijuana. This guy uses all kinds of fallacious tactics no better than those used by the politicians he is trying to call out. This guy is an asshole, and instead of just reporting unbiased facts (which are good enough to support legalization of marijuana themselves), he goes and talks about the “alcohol soaked breath” of politicians, and how “we know the Obama administration isn’t this stupid.” Yeah… That’ll change peoples minds on the other side of the issue… Dicks like this guy don’t help, they just add to the mindless media debate fueled on logical fallacies, emotion, and wedge issues that have no chance being put in the forefront of public policy as long as they are being used as nothing more than their names suggest- wedges. Wedges that politicians and this asshole alike profit from. Come on NORML, you’re better than this.
great video but it doesnt quite tell the whole story check out leap.com
Weed should be free like water, we should be able to use it and grow it how we please, there is some things the government shouldn’t control.
dude..weed is so much easier to get than alcohol…you don’t need a 21 year old to get some bud man, there’s no age limit because its illegal for everyone(excluding medicinal users). for alcohol u have to get someone of age to go buy it for you. i can weed all by myself! lol
Well said Sir well said
“…without the booze.” LOL epic!
Yeah, this video isn’t a very good argument for legalization. Yes the politicians are hypocritical, we’ve always known that, but that dosn’t mean that it’s ok to legalize. He didn’t really go in depth with any of the actual good arguments.
amazing. couldnt agree more
@shockbeard I am a teenager and weed is easier to get than alcohol hands down.
Don’t push for legalization of marijuana. Do you really want it taxed and regulated like everything else? As well, right now is the perfect time to be a drug dealer. The government is essentially subsidizing your profits by keeping it illegal! Keep it illegal and just dont be stupid.
[Editor’s note: You’re right…let’s keep the massive arrest, prosecution and incarcerations going so that dealers can maintain absurd profit margins and to resist obvious regulatory policies for the sake of…keeping the prices high.
Not!
Cannabis legalization or bust.
Cannabis consumers’ creed: best bud, lowest price]
I have watched more pot-umentaries and more pro-legalizing videos than most people and of all of them these 4 minutes perfectly surmise every minute of them all. Well done MSNBC
@Shitbird do you smoke cigarets? because I have never heard of pot giving someone cancer but rather help or prevent it.
I have been smoking since i was 9 years old and I am almost 30 now, it helps me focus, and it helps me calm down as I have badd adhd, it also helps with my chronic back pains. I think that this medicine is being kept illegal because the government, which is controlled by the pharmaceutical companies and the bankers, would loose a lot of money. If you look at the plant as a whole and not just the part that gets you high you will see that it has a numerous amount of beneficial qualities. The hemp from the plant can be made into many things including fabric and plastic. With just these two elements we could build more sustainable vehicles, houses, clothing, things like plastic bags that would be more easily recycled, amongst other things. It is obvious that it all comes back to money.
elmn8h8 you hit the nail on the head, right on. The government is just holding us back by ignoring the great benefits of marijuana. We could be so much more if the people rose up a starting fighting for change.
Cannabis is a great plant however fear has been instaled into extremly easy targets parents we must end the fear instaled it starts with education that has been in action for as long as the PLANT has been illegal now we must take to the people without idiotic mudslinging but the truth simple now is our time
I was diagnosed with Cervical Cancer in 2009… I was told my insurance didn’t cover the treatment I needed and therefore went without treatment due to inability to pay out-of-pocket. A year and four months later, after no treatment whatsoever, but with near-daily marijuana use, I was 100% cured… with only “very slight scarring” to my cervix. My dr (who was not the same dr who diagnosed me because I had gone to a state hospital instead of my hometown doctor for more accurate diagnosis and updates) even said that without that “very slight scarring” he wouldn’t have even known that I had ever had the cancer… so… I’m all for legalization.. and was even before my medical situation.
?? Thank you Gordon ??
Cannabis should be controlled & taxed the same way cigarettes are. But this will never happen, not when they’re trying to criminalize smoking. Politicians prefer to keep people down, not offer them more freedoms. Government scientists who publish the “table of harm” usually get sacked – because policy is not about harm, it’s about economy. At the moment, in many countries, the suburban, lazy, pot heads are seeing immigrant workers invited to do their casual work & get first dibs on social housing – the rest of the working class suffer. They could lower the classification of weed & issue fines – except that most of the suburban, lazy pot-heads are on dole checks so couldn’t pay. So let’s brush them under the carpet instead.
i think lawrence odonnell should smoke some pot…
or has he already?
Looks like America is Finally realizing weed is not so bad! Now England need to follow suit, but being Americas bitch i’m sure we will be smoking in no time :)!
I liked this, then unliked it, just so I could like it again
alcohol while being extremely fun, should be illegal. It makes you so stupid. It is responsible for the vast majority of ER visits that are involved with any foreign substance. Anyone who has ever been the sober one around a bunch of drunk people, knows just how dumb alcohol makes you. And that is not including how awful the next day is.
I’m very pro marijuana, I just want to say that any smoke you breath has the potential to cause cancer, even vapour can induce it long term, not directly. BUT weed is not directly carcinogenic like tobacco, AND only 1 in a million or something will actually die from this kind of cancer, you’re so more likely to die getting up in the morning. As with anything for anyone with common sense, its about having everything in the right amounts. Everything in moderation people, including moderation!
this man makes a very very god point and i love that he made this known