MPP’s Aaron Houston on MSNBC Way Too Early

Comments (6)
October 22, 2009

MPP Director of Government Relations Aaron Houston explains the implications of the new federal policy toward medical marijuana state laws, and discusses the growing acceptance of marijuana in public perception. 10/20/2009

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6 Comments, Comment or Ping

  1. James Crosby

    Thanks for posting this! What a great interview, and I hope that all continues to go well. Please remember to keep personal, un-taxed, cultivation rights in the debate when pushing for legalization.

    Oct 24th, 2009

  2. Gary

    Keep up the good work Aaron.

    Oct 24th, 2009

  3. Don E

    What a refreshing change to hear calm, good-natured discussion of cannabis legalization on national media. It wasn’t so long ago that any report on marijuana had to include somber, scary “facts” with anonymous characters in shadowy rooms with faces and voices obscured. Now the topic is standard fare on every newscast, and rationality is replacing fearful scenarios of doom if marijuana becomes legal.

    Oct 25th, 2009

  4. G

    I have collected a piece of this “drug war berlin wall” and I will be selling it on my blog. http://iblowminds.com/

    Keep up the good work Aaron. You da man but not like “the man”

    Oct 26th, 2009

  5. beau

    Not so sure I’d call this journalist “professional” or not.

    Wanna know why pot is still illegal? Because idiots like this guy still giggle like a 10 year old girl when pot is even mentioned in a room. Ok, we get it, YOU don’t smoke pot. Doesn’t mean you have to make jokes about those who do. “thanks for getting up so early with us this morning”. “whatever you need to tell yourself”. This guy obviously hangs around with people who don’t smoke. Therefore, when pot is brought up in conversation, he has to interject his little jabs. For many people, a pot smoker is never anything more than a “cheech and chong” character for them to make jokes about.

    Guys who don’t smoke have walked around telling cheech and chong jokes about people who do smoke for so long that they often refuse to even look at it as a serious issue. They just say “well of course it should be illegal, it’s always been illegal”. They give their canned responses when anyone brings it up (you know, it’s a gateway drug, and it sends the wrong message to kids, and we can’t test for it on the scene for dui, etc, etc), but never have a retort to all of the typical rebuttals that trump these ‘reasons’ for prohibition.

    But pot smokers can’t blame the squares for feeling this way. It’s a cultural thing. Same as race, same as sexual preference. People who don’t smoke, don’t really understand the culture that people who do smoke have been around. Why? Because the culture that people who do smoke have created is whack! I can’t imagine what my mom would think if she were to walk into a head shop. I wouldn’t want her to! But still, for years, these establishments have given the finger to the man and put those bongs right out there on display, with skull and dragon graphics and nude women, whatever. People begin to associate one with the other ya know? So thank you head shops, for offending wherever possible (because it’s your right to do so). Thank you hippies for pissing nixon off, jumping around naked stoned out of your head did NOTHING for our country. Thank you NORML for showing up with longhaired, red-eyed representatives to further push our cause. Thank you Cheech and Chong for forever stereotyping your characters onto pot smokers by those who are not in the know.

    Nov 16th, 2009

  6. beau

    So to legalize, you’ll really need to make it ‘politically incorrect’ to make jokes about pot use.

    I don’t joke about marijuana use. No, I joke about wannabe news reporters. Hehehe, they just read stuff off the tv all day! Hey Ron Burgundy, where’s Baxter (wink wink). You stay classy!

    I mean, I’m sure ALL news journalists talk like this all the time right?

    Nov 16th, 2009

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