I caught about five minutes of the Miss America pageant on TV the other night. No, I swear I wasn’t watching it on my own volition. My fiancee actually had it on, and I was working in the same room, glancing up from my computer every now and then to, uh, analyze the contestants’ answers to deep questions plaguing the nation. Or something like that.
Anyway, I was surprised with the question directed at Miss California. While reviewing my notes from last week’s Medical Marijuana Conference 2011 in San Francisco, I heard someone ask for her thoughts on… whether pot should be legal. Fitting, as she is from California.
Talk about all the stars aligning. Had my fiancee not turned the channel when “Man Vs. Food” went to commercial, I would have missed the whole thing entirely, and this blog post might never have happened (I’m not painting a very good picture of my fiancee’s TV tastes).
Here is Alyssa Campanella’s answer, in full: “Well, I understand why that question would be asked, especially with today’s economy, but I also understand that medical marijuana is very important to help those who need it medically. I’m not sure if it should be legalized, if it would really affect, with the drug war. I mean, it’s abused today, unfortunately, so that’s the only reason why I would kind of be a little bit against it, but medically it’s OK.”
Smooth. She covered all her bases and ensured that she didn’t get painted into a corner as either a pothead or an unsympathetic marijuana detractor. She did, by the way, go on to win the entire pageant.
Now this isn’t a big deal in and of itself. No one actually looks to Miss America contestants for the answers to our nation’s problems. And this is the same woman who backed up her comment about being a history buff by saying that she watches “Game of Thrones,” which really has nothing to do with history whatsoever, other than the fact it takes place in the Middle Ages.
But the fact that the question was asked during the pageant does show how medical marijuana is further entrenching itself in the mainstream segments of our society.
Chris Walsh is the editor of Medical Marijuana Business Daily
