MMJ: Under The Influence

Since you have your face on a brand of weed, do you think celebrity endorsements influence youth’s perception of weed? Since you’re a comic for adults, maybe it doesn’t apply in your case, but I was still curious. – E.

I’m sure it does. I mean that’s the point of a celebrity endorsement, right? Influencing people is the goal. Paris Hilton wants you to buy her perfume. Steph Curry wants you to drink Brita water. Tommy Chong wants you to smoke his weed. Nas wants you to drink Hennessey. This is America. We sell things. Commercials are abundant. Parents should be teaching their kids about the persuasiveness and perniciousness of advertising by the time their children are old enough to eat a Happy Meal™.

Do I think children will be led down a never-ending path of drug use and destruction because Kurupt has his face on a box of Moon Rocks? Nope. The beauty of the new legalization is that it’s hard for kids to get pot from a dispensary. The dopeman doesn’t check ID. The dispensary does.

The thing is, youth pot use goes down in states that have medical or adult use cannabis laws. Plus, marijuana has been proven time and time again to be safer than any other recreational drug. I would rather my kids smoke weed (after they have graduated high school and assuming they are handling their responsibilities) than get drunk every Friday night at the local party house.

Stop thinking of weed as some sort of evil demon plant and instead think of it as just one more thing young people need to know about in order to function as a responsible adult in polite society.

I’v heard there are a bunch of people lining up to fight the Adult Use of Marijuana Act. What have you heard? – Dab Tastic

I’ve heard the same. According to published reports, anti-AUMA organizers have raised around $60,000. Most of the money has come from prison guard unions and other law enforcement groups. Of course the cops and the prison guards are against legalization. I’m sure there are jobs that will be lost and prisons that will go unfilled if the cops can’t throw someone in jail for enjoying a plant. It’s a damn shame the police want to deprive law-abiding citizens of their freedom just to hold on to a paycheck or a federal War on Drugs grant.