Bill Maher To Mason Tvert: Help Cali Legalize Cannabis and I’ll Fund It

Mason Tvert, Executive Director for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol, was on last Friday’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO, and talks about his organization’s success in passing Amendment 64, an initiative to legalize recreational usage of marijuana in Colorado.

It’s fantastic seeing major media talking about cannabis reform every day, but this conversation is special because you have two elite weedists on stage who are really changing public perception and driving change.

For me the huge moment is when Bill Maher, who contributed $1M to the Obama re-election campaign, offers money to Mason twice if he’ll move to California and replicate what he did in Colorado with Amendment 64 in the Golden State, after our Prop 19 loss in 2010:

You come to our state, you do this for us, I will give you money.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHm6CuZ_RFI

Video Highlights: Mason Tvert on Real Time with Bill Maher, November 9, 2012

• Mason: “It feels good that there is 10,000 people in Colorado that are not going to be arrested and be made criminals next year just for using marijuana.” [0:23 mark]
• Mason explains how they achieved Amendment 64 victory in Colorado over the past eight years by educating the public and compares it to alcohol [0:50 mark]
• Mason: “In California, you guys are certainly poised to do it… and I know you made a very generous contribution to Barack Obama. If you and twenty of your friends want to get together and make a similar contribution, we’ll have this done in a year or two.”[2:14 mark]
  • Maher’s reply: “Will you move here and do it?”
  • Mason: “I will do it. I will do it, just for you.”
  • Maher’s reply: “OK, great, that’s a deal.”
• Mason and Maher discuss Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper’s Cheetos comment and how his fortune was built on booze (which makes him a drug dealer): [2:38 mark]
• Maher asks Mason: “What happens now if it [federal cannabis reform] doesn’t go the way we fantasize and Eric Holder wants to make a pissing match out of this?” [4:46 mark]
• Maher: “This [Amendment 64] got more votes than Obama did in Colorado… He could have won on your coattails.” Discussion how crazy it is neither GOP or Democrats really champion this cause. [5:30 mark]
• Bill Maher: “You come to our state, you do this for us, I will give you money.” [6:50 mark]