A Bet That Paid Off For Cannabis
By Chris Conrad
“Let’s do something about legalizing pot,” I said, while sharing a joint at the 1988 campaign victory party for Proposition 203, California’s insurance reform initiative.
“That’s impossible, Chris. They will never legalize marijuana.” “You’re wasting your time even thinking about it.” “Bush is going to be even worse than Reagan was on the Drug War.” “You’ll be a laughing stock!”
“Well,” I replied to that chorus of discouragement, “I bet I can come up with a plan to legalize marijuana but at some point I’ll need your help to pull it off.” “Yeah, sure,” they responded without showing any expectations.
That bet changed my life. I first read the congressional hearing transcripts for the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act and used it to rebrand the plant. I founded the Business Alliance for Commerce in Hemp (BACH) and Family Council on Drug Awareness based on a global strategy to divide the cannabis issue into four goals: Industrial hemp, medical marijuana, adult consumption and home growing and regulated commercial market and promote each on its own terms. I cobbled together a national network of new and existing activists who distributed tons of my strategy sheets and educational brochures across the country, such as The Many Uses of Hemp and Ten Things Every Teacher, Parent and Teenager Should Know About Marijuana. We got hemp bills introduced into state legislatures. We reestablished global trade in industrial hemp products, leading to the formation of the Hemp Industries Association. Early on, I completely redesigned Jack Herer’s The Emperor Wears No Clothes. He and I co-authored and organized the California Hemp Initiative petitioners for years training petitioners and educating voters without ever qualifying for the ballot. By 1995, medical marijuana patient stories had turned the tide on public opinion about cannabis, and activists turned to The Compassionate Use Act petition drive.
My wife, Mikki Norris, and I were recruited to be the liaisons between the activist community and the professional campaign run by Californians for Medical Rights. We had to navigate various rifts and schisms in the cannabis community over its relationship to the professional campaign, but by May we knew it would qualify for the ballot.
Once we had the number, Prop 215, I decided that now was the time to call in all those favors from the Prop 203 team on my bet, that if I came up with a plan that could legalize marijuana, they would lend a hand. I worked my way through the rolodex and made call after call, to which every one of my contacts from Prop 203 gave the same reply:
“What bet?”
Ultimately, none of them came through to help out; but the coalition of cannabis reformers who stepped forward to the challenge carried the day. Prop 215 passed and, thanks to a lot of hard work, the world has never been the same.
Chris Conrad and Mikki Norris
