Robert Reich, Cannabis Patriot

Reprinted from a Christopher Smith's 7/7/2021 presentation on the State of Cannabis News Hour:

"Good morning Susan, good morning everyone, my story today is from a series of tweets from Robert Reich, Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Labor, who also served under Ford, Carter, and Obama.

He’s a rock star intellectual: he got his BA at Dartmouth, a Masters at Oxford, law degree at Yale. He's a Professor at UC Berkeley and he’s written 18 books that have been translated into 22 languages.

(The kind of guy Donald Trump would call a loser.)

And while most of his peers have retired, he’s founded Inequality Media, whose videos have been viewed over 440 million times.

The Tweet that caught my eye was:

“So let me get this straight: Elon Musk can smoke a joint on Joe Rogan's podcast and SpaceX gets millions in federal contracts, but Sha'Carri Richardson tests positive for THC and she's disqualified from the Olympics?”

THE SCOOP

You might think Robert Reich is a curious ally in the battle for social equity and for cannabis rights. He doesn’t look the part: he’ a 75-year old elite white male and has nothing to gain by grinding these particular axes.

And if you prefer your cannabis champions younger, perhaps this headline is more to your liking:

“Famed Stoner Seth Rogen Comes to Defense of

Suspended Olympic Sprinter with Blistering Tweet”

… which he ended with “… if weed made you fast, I’d be FloJo”

(Um, Dewd, what a blisteringly embarrassing comparison! FloJo was busted for taking steroids before races to grow bigger muscles, not using a plant afterward for mental health.)

THE DEEP DIVE

So let’s let young Seth get back to the Pineapple Express while we take another look at the geezer.

Or as I call him: a patriotic American using all his skills to fight for human rights.

“The prohibition on marijuana is purely a form of social control.

It needlessly punishes Black and brown Americans.

It delegitimizes their talent and success,

while white techies and bankers get high without consequence.”

And another screed from the Professor’s feed:

“Reminder: The costs associated with enforcing the ban on marijuana,

including arrests, court costs, and incarceration,

reach nearly $14 billion a year. It’s time to end this madness.”

(Reich kindly attached the backing data in a white paper by Harvard Economist Jeffrey A. Miron).

THE LOOP BACK

One Last rock Star fact-bomb from the grown-up table:

“Legalize cannabis.

Expunge the records.

End the war on drugs.”

[This one comes with a video in which the Professor opines “The facts are staggering: in 2017, more Americans were arrested for marijuana possession than for murder, rape, aggravated assault and robbery COMBINED….”)

We should be inspired by this 75-year old elite white male lending his enormous credibility and passion for justice to Sha’Carri Richardson.

The fight for cannabis rights is the fight for human rights. We must bring all the weapons we have to win it.

And I’m done speaking."

IMAGES: Inequality Media