Actress and MPP advisory board member Susan Sarandon, who appears in the doc, How to Make Money Selling Drugs, is taking a more active stance against marijuana prohibition.
Quoting figures that show blacks are incarcerated for marijuana offenses 10 times more than any other racial group, Sarandon writes at Huffington Post:
"Marijuana legalization is the first step towards correcting this unnecessary tragedy. It's ridiculous that we continue to incarcerate anyone for using a substance that actually causes far less damage than alcohol. No one goes out looking for fights on marijuana. No one dies from marijuana intoxication. And no one should be jailed for possessing marijuana. Prohibition is an antiquated concept that's been politicized for far too long...
"The majority of my generation knows better than to believe the government's breathless anti-marijuana propaganda...
"I encourage everyone to get involved in your own state. Eventually we'll reach enough of a critical mass to prompt reform at the federal level and we can end this national outrage once and for all."
Sarandon won an Oscar for her role as a nun in Dead Man Walking in 1996, and has been nominated four other times. She recently appeared in Robert Redford's film about the Weather Underground, The Company You Keep.
