CULTURE Higher Ground
Politics and marijuana intertwine in 2020 By Larry Gabriel
Celebrities, musicians, sports figures, and even politicians
have had their careers attached to marijuana in numerous ways, both good and bad. It was once big news when anyone of note came out in support of the stuff. ow the leader of the pack in the emocratic presidential primaries at out says that he’ll make marijuana legal. emocratic socialist ernie Sanders would put a lot of capitalists into business with that pronouncement. These days, coming out in support of marijuana legali ation is a little less revolutionary than it once was. rankly, we’ve seen a steady stream of notable names coming through Michigan banging the gong for marijuana for several years now, some of them promoting their own brands. apper erner partnered with Gage to open the ookies provisioning center in etroit last month. f course, rappers and weed have always been closely associated. That has played out in the High Times annabis up events. ust this past ugust, u Tang lan, hain , and arren G performed at the High Time annabis up in etroit. ut then again, the up folks have always brought through high profile rappers for their groundbreaking events. Snoop ogg visited the Green uddha provisioning center in erndale while here for a show in anuary. Professional sports figures are becoming fi tures in the cannabis crowd too — at least retired sports figures. o er Tommy Hearns appeared at I in erndale for that store’s grand opening. etired ed ing arren Mc arty has been a fi ture as a legali ation activist. ion alvin ohnson has a Michigan provisioning center license. Mike ames came out as a marijuana supporter just days before the ions released him and his playing career ended. ormer etroit Piston ohn Salley spoke at last year’s Hash ash. “Salley was a pretty beloved figure on behalf of the Pistons,” says ick ettell, a Hash ash organi er. “I doubt that back then any of his fans thought in 0 years this guy is going to be an
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advocate for the cannabis cause.” omedian actor Tommy hong has been a cannabis advocate for, like, forever, and has made Michigan one of his regular haunts this past decade. pect his hong’s hoice products to show up around here as recreational marijuana spreads across the state. Politicians are taking their whacks with weed too. ormer ew Me ico Governor Gary ohnson announced his 0 candidacy for president as a libertarian at the 0 Hash ash. ast year, ep. ebbie ingell became the first sitting national politician to speak at the event. ith the emocratic primaries upon us and much of the field in support of legali ation, could we see a high level surrogate for a presidential candidate pop up at the ash ettell’s not naming names but says it’s possible there will be a national politician at this year’s bash pril . “It will be interesting to see how much the emocratic nomination may evolve between now and the Hash ash,” ettell says. It will evolve, and with Hash ash in five weeks, we’ll be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel of this nominating process. e’ll be past Super Tuesday on March , and the less super Tuesday, March 0 the following week that si states, including Michigan, vote in. y then the field will be whittled down from the near 0 candidates we once had to the two or three headed for the finish line. Hash ash attendees will have a sense of whether we’re looking at a emocratic presidential candidate who supports marijuana legali ation at the federal level or not. e’ve had three former presidents, ill linton, George . ush, and arack bama, who used marijuana in their past but stopped using. ow we need a president who sees marijuana in the future. Maybe that’s a little homework for the marijuana gang as we rev up for Hash ash — in March, get out and vote for a candidate who will work to legali e marijuana across the country. If you’re Michigan centric, there’s more work to normali e weed and get
