Elon Musk has once again bravely dipped his toes into the pro-cannabis activism pool, this time with a keen observation about the unfair treatment of people convicted of weed-related offenses.
In a cryptic tweet on Saturday morning, Elon questioned how it could be that people are still behind bars for selling weed even though it has been made legal in some form in more than half of US states.
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The Tesla and SpaceX CEO teased his followers this morning by writing that he is about to share something that will probably get him into trouble.
This will probably get me into trouble, but I feel I have to say it
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 6, 2020
A long 10 minutes later, he finally shared what he felt was so important and sent off a second tweet lamenting the fact that even though cannabis has gone from being an illegal substance to an essential good during the COVID-19 pandemic, there are still people who are sitting in prison over cannabis convictions.
Selling weed literally went from major felony to essential business (open during pandemic) in much of America & yet many are still in prison. Doesn’t make sense, isn’t right.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 6, 2020
While Musk probably just discovered this glaring injustice, it wasn’t exactly news for many of his 35 million followers, with many saying he was stating the obvious. One follower responded by tweeting: “Why do you think this will get you in trouble?”
A total of 33 states and the District of Columbia have legalized or decriminalized medical and/or recreational cannabis, while others are still cracking down hard on anyone daring to grow the wrong plant in their backyard.
Fifty years of the War on Drugs has put hundreds of thousands of people behind bars for minor cannabis-related charges and, in the process, destroyed countless lives.
In 2018 alone, 608,775 were charged across the US for the possession of marijuana alone. And even though cannabis has been legalized in many states, there are still millions of people with criminal records over something that is completely legal nowadays.
Musk argued this ‘doesn’t make sense’ and ‘isn’t right’ – a sentiment that many of his followers obviously agree with.
Despite marijuana having been legalized at the state level, it remains a Schedule 1 drug on the federal level, and US law enforcement agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration can arrest anyone in violation of federal marijuana laws.
It’s hard to see how Elon thought this opinion would get him in trouble, given the fact that the vast majority of Americans support cannabis legalization, but he was likely referring to the fallout of his 2018 interview with Joe Rogan when he smoked a joint on-air.
Even though the joint was fully legal, as the interview took place in California, his rookie tokes made huge waves in the press and caused the stock of Tesla to plummet.
Musk’s other company SpaceX — which last week made history with the first-ever human space launch — even became the focus of a NASA safety review after that infamous episode of the Joe Rogan Experience.
Pretty hard to imagine NASA would have even batted an eye had he shared a glass of vodka with Rogan.
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