Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jan 2014
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: Ngaio Bealum

WHO WILL WIN SUPER BOWL 420?

So, who is your pick to win the big "Bowl"?

- -Frank the Dank

I predict marijuana will win. And it won't even be close. The 
Internet is already abuzz (you heard me) with excitement over the 
fact that this year's Super Bowl contenders (the Seattle Seahawks and 
the Denver Broncos) come from Washington and Colorado. And, of 
course, weed is legal in Washington and Colorado. Proof once again 
that marijuana is good for the economy-think of all the T-shirts.

At the beginning of the football season, I wrote a column (see "Are 
you ready for some football?" SN&R The 420; September 12, 2013) about 
how the National Football League should allow its players to use 
medical marijuana. Pot is a natural neuroprotectant, and football is 
full of concussions. In a recent interview, NFL Commissioner Roger 
Goodell was asked about medical marijuana, and he made a very 
noncommittal comment: "I don't know what's going to develop as far as 
the next opportunity for medicine to evolve and to help either deal 
with pain or help deal with injuries, but we will continue to support 
the evolution of medicine." And while that may seem like a tepid 
response, it isn't a flat-out rejection.

But forget helping players, look at the money! The NFL makes mad bank 
on merchandise. Who wouldn't want an official NFL weed-themed 
snapback hat? I am sure the folks at Grassroots California would love 
to make one. How about a silicone dab pad that looks like a football 
field? Who wouldn't want one of those? The tie-ins are endless.

The universe has a funny way of doing things. Washington and Colorado 
legalize weed, and now their football teams are in the Super Bowl, 
and all people can talk about is marijuana. See, if California had 
legalized weed already, Oakland and San Francisco would have faced 
each other in 2011's Super Bowl.

My prediction is that the THC-hawks will beat the team from the Mile 
High City 26-17. Omaha!

Will President Barack Obama's recent remarks help the marijuana movement?

- -Noel Nothing

Hell yes. When the president of the United States of America comes 
out and says in an interview with The New Yorker that weed is not 
more harmful than alcohol, and that marijuana laws are used to 
oppress poor people ("Middle-class kids don't get locked up for 
smoking pot, and poor kids do. And African-American kids and Latino 
kids are more likely to be poor and less likely to have the resources 
and the support to avoid unduly harsh penalties"), you can bet it 
will have an effect on people's perceptions. Especially when he 
points out the hypocrisy of folks that think weed should still be 
illegal, even though they themselves have smoked marijuana: "we 
should not be locking up kids or individual users for long stretches 
of jail time when some of the folks who are writing those laws have 
probably done the same thing." These are strong words. Now it is up 
to us to get the rest of the politicians to go along. Legalize weed. Vote.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom