Stephen Colbert’s Colbert Super PAC has created a ‘word cloud’ where marijuana reigned supreme, but in a second image that reflects the amount of money attached to the word, it was merely a drop in the buck compared to other issues.
By Sam Sabzehzar | September 6, 2011
In word rank alone, 'marijuana' was one of the highest.
As Stephen Colbert told his viewers, “Less money on the wacky tobacky, and more money on the Super Packy,” he in essence was telling his audience to put their money where their mouth is, literally.
The amount of times the word ‘marijuana’ was entered by Colbert Super PAC contributors was one of the highest ranking words, but according to Colbert, the money behind marijuana goes up in smoke before it makes its way to the political arena.
There is another marijuana lobby group, The National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), which aims to accomplish lobbying efforts in Washington D.C. for the ever-changing cannabis industry.
Aaron Smith, Executive Director of NCIA, thinks that more money will come from the sidelines soon, as more companies and venture capitalists are positioning themselves to get more skin in the game.
When reflecting the amount of donations behind each word, 'marijuana' is one of the smallest in the word cloud.
“We’ve seen a dramatic increase in interest from areas of America that are mostly conservative, where folks are fed up with a broken economy, a splintered political atmosphere, and a climate of fear-based marijuana policy that has clearly failed.”
Perhaps a Super PAC, which can take in unlimited funds per the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, will be the catalyst this industry needs to see clearly how opponents of sensible marijuana regulations have joined forces to fight us, and that in this new era of Winner-Buy-All Democracy, the marijuana industry must use the same tools the warriors in the drug war are fighting with: Money.
