We saw quite a few people come around on cannabis this week, from a Supreme Court justice to an SNL cast member. Additionally, Bernie Sanders applauds those who fight for criminal justice reform, Stephen Colbert cracks jokes about bongs masquerading as vases, and, unsurprisingly, David Crosby extols the creative benefits of cannabis.
Here’s a roundup of quotes from the past week.
“I used to be invited to [parties] where [I] don’t know the host. And can I say that long, long ago, marijuana was maybe present at those parties? It just is not obvious that the reasonable partygoer is supposed to walk into this apartment and say, ‘Got to get out of here.’ And it seems a little bit hard that they’re subject to arrest.”
– Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, while hearing oral arguments for District of Columbia v. Wesby. The case pertains to a group of partygoers who were arrested at a house party after the homeowner said they were trespassing. The partygoers insisted they were invited by the person leasing the house and sued the police for unlawful arrest.
“Jake, let’s not worry about the politics of what’s going on. Let’s talk about why players are doing what they’re doing. And that is that we have a real crisis in criminal justice in this country. The United States of America has more people in jail than any other major country on Earth. We have communities now where kids are being picked up for smoking marijuana, getting police records, which makes it difficult for them to get the jobs that they need. So I think what the players are talking about is the need for criminal justice reform, the need for police department reform. They have the right to make that point, and I appreciate their standing up for what they believe.”
Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) during an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN. Tapper asked Sanders for his opinion on NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem.
“I think reasonable people can ask reasonable questions about whether marijuana is a chemotherapeutic agent. It’s a much broader question about where our responsibility is to step into this and start to ask questions about the claims that are being made…We’ll have some answers to this question very soon, because I think we do bear responsibility to start to address these questions.”
– Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, suggesting that the FDA may begin scrutinizing unproven health claims about cannabis during a hearing before Congress
“When you invite me you know that’s what you inviting. It is what it is, but at the end of the day, legalize it.”
– Rapper Wiz Khalifa responding to criticism stemming from last week’s Pirates game, where he was invited to throw out the first pitch and pretended to puff and pass a joint upon taking the mound
“They told me there, they’re like, ‘You might be bipolar,’ and I was like, ‘OK.’ So they’re like, ‘We’re gonna try you on these meds.’ And then I got out [of rehab], and then I started smoking weed again–and I’m on meds.”
– Saturday Night Live cast member Pete Davidson to Rolling Stone. Davidson briefly quit smoking cannabis after experiencing “mental breakdowns,” only to find out that his mental health struggles were due to a previously undiagnosed borderline personality disorder.
“Like when your parents find your bong and you tell them, ‘Hey, there’s no weed in there now. So…technically, technically, technically that is a vase. Now if you’ll excuse me, if you’ll excuse me, I have some Pink Floyd to listen to. May I have my vase back, please? That’s based on a true story, actually. [Laughs] My mom didn’t know. She didn’t know.”
– Stephen Colbert during his opening monologue. He used the analogy to explain how the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms doesn’t regulate “bump stocks” because they are a “firearm part” as opposed to a firearm.
“Music and pot go together really well. Being high and listening to music is an excellent idea. That’s certainly not true of hard drugs. They get in the way of everything. But yeah, smoking pot and listening to a record? That’s a winning combination. I think a lot of the great music was written by people who may have been herbally enhanced at the time.”
– Musician David Crosby in an interview with Uproxx
