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The California Cannabis Referendum

SEPTEMBER 2, 2010
 

An interesting assignment.  In the current ROLLING STONE with a very bloody trio of vampires on the cover.  It deals with the upcoming referendum on legalizing pot in California,  and the advocates for legalization and for not legalizing the consumption of cannabis as a state regulated, taxable item.  Like booze.   An interesting assignment for me because, frankly, and I express a minority opinion here I’m certain,  I have no affection for the Mary Jane.   Never have; probably never will.  My reasons are not important here; suffice to say it doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest.  The idea though was to show a cross section of potential voters, within the space allowed, who are pot smokers and who just might turn up at the polls to vote in favor.  They’re not all old hippie stoners, though that’s one segment for sure.  They’re farmers, vets, critically or terminally ill people, business types, soccer moms, different races, and different political philosophies. God knows, up here where I live you’ve got your hard core Palin-ites who smoke weed with the same enthusiasm as those bad, flaky, left wing hippies.  The preacher was originally supposed to be standing on a soap box and playing more of a blocking presence, but space and content considerations kept pushing him further back toward the left (no pun) end of the image. 

 

A personal observation- the image is pretty funny and non inflammatory (I think), yet I find that there is no way to illustrate someone smoking pot without looking silly.   Yeah, that’s a polite way of putting it.


© 2024 Victor Juhasz