I love people who can educate and politicize in creative and entertaining ways. Prince Ea -- hip hop artist, activist and founder of Make SMART Cool -- shows us how it's done with his soon-to-be-released song "Smoking Weed With The President."
This epic 8-minute song is both a history lesson and an advocacy tool that will make you laugh and expand your mind at the same time.
The track is a personal and persuasive plea to President Obama to end our nation's insane, racist and hypocritical war on marijuana users.
Prince Ea delves into the history of how marijuana became illegal (lies, racism and political opportunism) and the arbitrary distinctions between legal and illegal drugs. Prince Ea outlines the harms of drug prohibition (violence, cartel profits and mass incarceration) and the benefits of regulation (taxes, safety and control).
The track even uses a surprisingly accurate Obama impersonator to channel the president's inner thoughts on the issue.
In just this one song, Prince Ea summarizes a book's worth of information into a clear and powerful argument against marijuana prohibition.
Prince Ea is releasing a lyrical version of the song on Indiegogo to raise money to shoot a music video to accompany the track. You can support Prince Ea's project -- and in doing so reach hundreds of thousands of people.
Let's join Prince Ea and make smart -- and ending the drug war -- cool!
Tony Newman is the director of media relations at the Drug Policy Alliance.
This post is part of the HuffPost Shadow Conventions 2012, a series spotlighting three issues that are not being discussed at the national GOP and Democratic conventions: The Drug War, Poverty in America, and Money in Politics.
HuffPost Live will be taking a comprehensive look at America's failed war on drugs August 28th and September 4th from 12-4 pm ET and 6-10 pm ET. Click here to check it out -- and join the conversation.