As you may have noticed I’ve been following Change.Org for the last couple of weeks and especially their initiative to identify the Top 10 ideas to present to the Obama Administration on 16th January. I realise that I may be getting a bit pushy about this and I promise this is the last time I’ll mention it. Here are the 2 ideas I’m supporting:
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I know it’s idealistic, dreamy and naive and all that. A chance to change the world, peace in our lifetime etc. blah blah blah. BUT it is an opportunity to get some new ideas in front of possibly the most powerful man in the world – at least he will be for the next few years.
All it takes is a few minutes of your time and at least if you vote you can say you did something! And with global consciousness engulfing us (ok! – lapping at our feet) Obama’s priorities are not just an American agenda. Voting closes on 15th January at 17.00 ET (I assume that’s US Eastern Time).
At the time of writing ‘Bridging the Empathy Gap‘ is currently languishing at the respectable yet completely useless position of 15th 14th overall and needs at least another 1,100 800 votes to get in the top 10 assuming the ones above don’t get any more votes. ‘Appoint Secretary of Peace’ is doing rather better at 9th 8th place but still needs support to keep it in the top 10.
By my estimation, if just one person reading this can mobilise 1,000 people to cast a vote for these 2 ideas then we’ve made it. Or 10 of you mobilising 100 people each? Or … you get the picture? I’m fairly new to this blogging and networking world and my guess is that some of you reading this are not and probably have a much better idea how to achieve voting for these ideas on a large scale? Anyone?
Now you’re probably wondering about the title of the post and what it’s got to do with any of this.
If you take a look at the current top 10 most popular ideas you’ll see there are some really great causes in there. Health, education, environment. Right in there at the top spot is that urgent and critical challenge that will surely shape the future of our species. Billions of people around the world will be breathing (or inhaling) a collective sigh of relief when they see the most popular idea. The one that will be at the top of the list presented to the new President. You guessed it…. ‘Legalise Marijuana’.
I’ll pause here for you to take this in.
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I’m guessing there are sound reasons for this proposal and it apparently has a lot of support. But is this really the most pressing issue facing the new President???? Really! Come on. Let’s vote for stuff that’s important!
I’ll finish by telling you about my one and only encounter with marijuana.
Many years ago I was living in Reading, UK in a ground floor apartment with the landlord living in the apartment above. Reading is host to a major annual rock festival and my landlord supplemented his income by selling marijuana to those attending the concerts. I guess they needed it to distract them from the rain and mud that goes hand in hand with any outdoor event in the UK. He grew the marijuana in a greenhouse in the back yard of our apartments, carefully concealed by a sheet of transparent plastic.
Being somewhat curious whilst not having a clue what I was doing I decided to try it out. I waited until I was sure there was no-one around and took two or three leaves from the plants in the greenhouse and took them inside. I remember feeling very worried about being caught.
What to do with these leaves? I had some vague idea that you smoke the stuff and probably that meant the leaves needed to be dried and then wrapped in paper. I was a bit impatient to see what all the fuss was all about so I put the leaves in the oven and prepared some newspaper to put it in. After a couple of minutes I removed the leaves and I watched in horror as they turned into dust in my hands. I was too nervous to go get some more so I never did find out what all the fuss was about.
I imagine though that if marijuana had been legal then I wouldn’t have been nervous, I’d have gone for some more leaves and would today be a very different person. So you see … legalising marijuana is clearly the number one priority in order to save young men, such as I was, from making complete fools of themselves!
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[...] is passionately campaigning with a new post for support from other bloggers for the two ideas he wants seen in the top [...]
Oh man….
legalising that stuffs is a nightmare
the public places will smell like sh1t and that’s the last thing I want to see.
Passing through Amsterdam’s coffee shops with strong MJ hume is a horrible experience
Do you want your star bucks and phone booth to smell pot?
cigarette is already bad enough
Relax – welcome! And thanks for the comment which I can read two ways.
First as support for my post … and I fully agree with you. I’m not in favour of encouraging any kind of drugs and I certainly find the smell unpleasant (stale tobacco and alcohol too!).
Second as disagreeing with me … in which case I’m concerned I may not have used enough irony in the post. My intention was to point out how crazy it is that this issue seems to be considered by some to be so important – when there are, in my opinion, much greater issues facing the new administration.
For the record I’m pretty much neutral when it comes to legalising (or not)any kind of drug. I’m not convinced that banning or punishing anything actually works. I tend to favour education and social pressure to control unhealthy or dangerous activities.
thanks
You know in my home country (Malaysia)
some politicians are trying to ban many petty stuffs such as yoga, beer, street dance etc. suing moral issues as excuses
But they negleted the important things like corruption and increasing crime rate.
That story is HILARIOUS.
Putting aside historical things like Dupont not wanting a cheap fibre to compete with nylon, I think that one of the main underlying reasons why we will never see marijuana legalised is because no government wants up to half of it’s population kicking back and relaxing instead of working hard so they can buy more “things”.
Ian,
This is the first post of yours I’ve read since I’ve returned from India, and I’m cracking up. It’s pretty mind boggling to see that people believe “Legalizing Marijuana” is the most pressing issue facing our President today.
That’s America for you!
P.S. I loved your story of your experience with Mary Jane. I
So here’s the thing about legalization of marijuana. It is a industry that the government could use to pay down our insane national debt. As long as it is properly taxed and regulated like the tobacco and alcohol industry, there is no reason why it shouldn’t be legal. It is no more harmful than those other industries and actually has other uses besides recreational smoking. Arguments could be made for both sides, but the Pros outweigh the Cons by a great deal. Many industries would profit from legalization of even industrial hemp, ya know, the kind that you cannot get high off of. People who give this BS about it stinking up the place should realize that they don’t own the air and cannot stop someone from enjoying a cigarette in their own home, so why should marijuana be any different.
Ian, if this is your one and only encounter with marijuana, then, sad to tell you, you don’t know what PEACE is, my brother.
I have done my share in voting and advertising this, and now we will see what happens. But, let’s be positive – suppose marijuana gets legalized, everybody smokes it, they became very peaceful and cool and easy…, perhaps this could lead to a more peaceful world.
Can you imagine, for a moment, a world of happy stoned rastamans, jiving around, all smiles… I mean, it is not the worst case scenario…
Hayden – funny now, but at the time it was traumatic!
Razz and Chris – I know there are plenty of good reasons to legalize it. That’s not the point. sometimes it seems that there’s so much that could be done to make this a better place that we need priorities. Personally I think there are more important things to put our energy into than the marijuana issue. Poverty? Peace? Environment? But I fully respect that other people see the world differently to me. Thankfully!
Rahul – Great to see you back and hope India was a good trip.
Robert – Whatever works for you my friend!