When I first saw the picture of Nancy Grace alongside Atlanta rapper 2 Chainz announcing a “Face Off” on HLN about marijuana, via Queens rapper Himanshu’s Twitter timeline, I thought it was a joke.
Cartoonish and excitable Nancy Grace versus a performer whose breakthrough hit was “Duffle Bag Boy?” It seemed too good to be true.
Amazingly, it happened.
I expected that 2 Chainz could hold his own in the debate. Yes, he is a high profile entertainer and unabashed weed enthusiast (Grace was quick to pull up a video of the rapper enjoying a massive blunt during the tête-à-tête) but 2 Chainz, née Tauheed Epps, was a scholar/athlete who graduated from Alabama State University on a basketball scholarship with a 4.0 GPA.
Nancy Grace predictably went ballistic with a laundry list of scare tactics about marijuana that could have been borrowed directly from a PSA your grandparents might have been forced to watch or “Reefer Madness.”
She pulled up footage from the internet of some awful person forcing a toddler to smoke marijuana. 2 Chainz reasonably asserted that Grace should not define marijuana users based on that one person, who probably suffered from serious mental health issues that have nothing to do with weed.
Good point, 2 Chainz. If we judged all of society from crazy and extreme internet videos, we’d all be forced to conclude that civilization was ending tomorrow.
2 Chainz went on to make completely valid observations about the wasted taxpayer resources consumed by low level marijuana arrests. He pointed to the damaging social and economic consequences faced by people with even the most petty marijuana offenses on their record – ultimately, calling into question what it’s all for, when most people who consume marijuana are reasonable, responsible and capable of being good parents and caregivers, much like 2 Chainz himself.
Even Nancy Grace had to admit that the level-headed and calm 2 Chainz seemed to have his act together, essentially discrediting all the sweeping generalizations about “crazed” marijuana smokers that she was trying to make.
Advantage, 2 Chainz.
Well played and that cardigan was simply fantastic.
Sharda Sekaran is the managing director of communications for the Drug Policy Alliance.
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Author: Sharda Sekaran
Date Published: January 14, 2015
Published by Drug Policy Alliance
Via:: Ddrug Policy Alliance