Checkout this recent piece from HuffPost Live discussing the potential for “stoners” to sway election results. Ahmed Shihab-Eldin opens the conversation by posing the following question, ”Could it really be that the future of the nation is in the hands of a bunch of stoners in Colorado that are outraged at Obama’s dismissive and arguably hostile policies on pot?” He proceeds to speak with local activist/business owner, Josh Stanley (recently featured on National Geographic’s American Weed). Stanley, despite voting for Obama in 2008, is not happy with the President’s current path. He says that the President has not followed through with what he said he would (even outside of cannabis issues) and points out that, ”In one term he has successfully raided more medical marijuana dispensaries than GW did in two terms”. He reminds us that the medical marijuana industry has been one of the fastest growing industries in Colorado for the last three years, and believes that for President Obama to shut the industry down is “atrocious”.The conversation moves on to a man named Andy Curtis, who openly admits that he smokes marijuana but still supports President Obama because he believes that there are ”bigger issues at play” and this issue doesn’t affect him because he still gets his marijuana “the old fashioned way” (we can only guess he’s referring to purchasing black market cannabis and that he’s okay with supporting drug cartels and depriving our society of significant tax revenue). We’re not sure where HuffPost found this guy, but it is our opinion that “stoners” like this are a large reason for the continued prohibition of cannabis. Those who believe that it’s easier to continue buying their cannabis illegally than to make an effort to free the plant are as much a part of the problem as President Obama himself. We don’t mean to imply that one should vote for the president solely based on cannabis policy, but to ignore the damage done by prohibition because it doesn’t affect you directly is to become a part of the problem.
Up next, is cannabis supporter, Josh Kappel, who says that in Colorado “supporting marijuana is a mainstream issue” because no one believes that anyone should be arrested for using a substance that is safer than alcohol and causes less societal problems than alcohol. The conversation goes back to Josh Stanley who referrences an old Southpark episode in which the characters had to choose between a turd sandwich or a douchebag, at which point, Mary Robertson chimes in with her opinion by saying, “I dont think there are two evils out there to vote for. Theres a viable third party candidate his name is Gary Johnson”. She believes that Johnson’s inclusion in the race means that “this is the first election in a long time where people can go to the polls and vote for someone that they don’t feel is evil.” We found in interesting to note that Mitt Romney’s name wasn’t even mentioned once.
