Indiegogo Campaign video from Adam Hartle on Vimeo.
In a promotional video for a new documentary on the passage of Amendment 64 in Colorado on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo, Congressman Tom Tancredo went even further than just speaking out in favor of marijuana legalization -- he agrees to smoke marijuana with the film's creator, comedian Adam Hartle.
Near the end of the 10-minute trailer for the documentary (at 9:21), Hartle asks Tancredo, "True or false, when Amendment 64 passes and marijuana is legal, the next time I'm out in Colorado, we're going to smoke a joint together."
To which a wide-eyed Tancredo responds simply: "Deal."
The interview is followed by a text card reading:
Please help us get Congressman Tancredo rocky mountain high!
Presumably if the filmmakers can raise enough money through their Indiegogo fundraiser page, Tancredo smoking pot with Hartle could become a reality. Hartle and his crew are looking to raise $40,000 in the next 60 days.
View the "Grassroots" trailer with the Tancredo segment here.
Before A64 passed, Tancredo became a surprising ally of the progressive movement to legalize marijuana, writing a column for The Gazette on the "pro" side of a marijuana legalization debate. Colorado Attorney General John Suthers served as the "con" point of view for the piece. Tancredo wrote:
I am endorsing Amendment 64 not despite my conservative beliefs, but because of them.
Throughout my career in public policy and in public office, I have fought to reform or eliminate wasteful and ineffective government programs. There is no government program or policy I can think of that has failed in such a unique way as marijuana prohibition.
Our nation is spending tens of billions of dollars annually in an attempt to prohibit adults from using a substance objectively less harmful than alcohol.
Yet marijuana is still widely available in our society. We are not preventing its use; we are merely ensuring that all of the profits from the sale of marijuana (outside the medical marijuana system) flow to the criminal underground.
"Congressman Tancredo's endorsement proves that Amendment 64 isn't a Republican or Democratic issue -– it's an issue of common sense, and doing what's best for the State of Colorado," Mason Tvert, co-director of the group behind Amendment 64 -- the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol -- said to The Huffington Post. "Many people are familiar with Congressman Tancredo and appreciate his opinions. In this case, his opinion is that marijuana prohibition is a failed policy that wastes taxpayer dollars."
Tvert added: "We are excited to have the support of someone who received more than 650,000 votes in the 2010 Colorado race for governor. Regardless of whether you agree with him on other political issues, it is clearly beneficial to have his endorsement."
Tancredo, who ran for governor in Colorado in 2010, said he doesn't use marijuana in The Gazette op-ed, but perhaps that is going to change now that he's met Hartle. Tancredo wrote that marijuana is "objectively less harmful than alcohol" and also drew comparisons to marijuana and alcohol prohibition in his column for The Gazette, saying that 80 years ago Colorado ended the "misguided" policy of alcohol prohibition and now, this November, have the chance to repeat history by ending marijuana prohibition.
The voters did make history with Amendment 64 passing overwhelmingly, 55-45. And Hartle and his cameras were there to catch the hard work leading up to the Nov. 6 vote and all the excitement when it was announced that A64 had passed in the state.
“We’re really excited about this movie. I’d like to thank the activists and all the people in the great state of Colorado for changing the course of history. This was my first time in Colorado. We met so many amazing people, and it was so beautiful, I’m really excited about the next time I’m able to get back out there,” says Hartle, a Jacksonville, Fla. stand-up comedian, in a press statement about the documentary.
Hartle hopes that people will enjoy what he's done in the ten minute trailer so he can complete the film with proper funding. “We hope those who like it will consider jumping on board this project with us," Hartle said. "We can then finish strong, as we fight to push similar amendments through the forty eight remaining States. There’s no greater tool for liberty and justice than a Grassroots movement of the people. The place is America and the time is now. Together, it’s all within our power -- plus weed is freakin’ awesome," Hartle concludes his press release.
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