U.S. Marijuana Reform Project USMRP.com

Tolerance

Merriam-Webster.com lists one definition of "tolerance" as, "sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's own."

Lately I have been struggling with how marijuana prohibition has lasted so long despite all of the evidence that prohibition doesn't achieve the goals of those who support prohibition and the fact that prohibition has always done more harm than good to every society that has implemented a policy of prohibition.

Marijuana Makes Americans Crazy

Actually, U.S. Marijuana policies makes American's look crazy.

Watch this video to educate yourself.

Does marijuana use make you smarter?

Marijuana - Cause in 60

Marijuana. It's an ongoing debate. In this Cause in 60 cannabis supporters fight for their rights to use a natural medicine while others stand firm on their beliefs to criminalize the use of mind altering substances. What do you think? Should it be legal for recreational use, regulated, and taxed to fix our economy? Or should those who inhale deep be put in prison? Share your thoughts at http://causecast.org/marijuana

The Stigma of Marijuana Users

There is a negative stigma attached to marijuana that has been cultivated in the United States for a very long time. It runs deep and it will take a lot of effort and education to turn prejudice into tolerance.

When a group of people look or behave in a way that is different than ours it is easy to be judgmental, especially when those around us have the same negative views. The problem is that we gravitate toward like minded people, so changing a stereotype is difficult.

“They should all be locked up.” I am not proud to admit that I have said this about people before. It was my natural response to people who did not look or behave the way I thought they should.

The problem with this type of knee-jerk judgement about marijuana users is that our prisons have become our trash can for people that smoke marijuana.

Here’s an exercise to test your own stereotype about marijuana users.

Picture in your mind a group of people who smoke marijuana.

• Where are they?
• What do they look like?
• What are they wearing?
• How are they behaving?

In the past, I would have envisioned white, bare foot, 20 something, tie-dye clad, tree-hugging, long haired hippies dancing around in a field of flowers. You know, the Janis Joplin, 1960‘s Woodstock scene. No offense to those of you who fit this this description, but this image used to give me the heebie-jeebies.

Today I think of bald, middle-aged women, suffering from chemo-therapy treatments, lying in a fetal position on a bed with fists clenched from the pain. I think of the black guys I worked construction with in South Carolina who used to smoke weed before work every day. I think of people who are tormented by mental illness who’s only relief, from their illness and the medications, is achieved by smoking marijuana. I think of the conservative lobbyist I knew that was busted smoking weed in a hotel room. I think of old people having a good time in a retirement community. I think of hypocritical professionals who smoke weed. I think of Willie Nelson, Barack Obama, Bill Mahr, Carl Sagan, Duke Ellington, Michael Phelps, Joan Rivers, Oliver Stone, Keith Richards, Winston Churchill, Walt Disney, Thomas Jefferson, Sigmond Freud, Richard Branson and Edgar Allen Poe.

My point is that whatever stereotype you have, about people who smoke or have smoked marijuana, it is wrong and locking them up in a prison cell is irrational.