Box Brown hopes that once people read his new book ‘Cannabis: The Illegalization of Weed in America,’ there will be more people on the side of cannabis enthusiasts, and not just pretend to be. The Award-winning cartoonist, Illustrator, and comic publisher came out from Philidelphia to meet his fans at DiNK Denver that took place Apr. 13-14, 2019. Brown is well-known for his New York Times-bestselling ‘Andre the Giant: Life and Legend,’ ‘Tetris: The Games People Play,’ and ‘Is This Guy For Real?’ Nerd Alert News met up with the author at the popular Grandma’s House in Denver to chat.
Colleen Bement: Are you excited to be here at DiNK?
Box Brown: I love it in Colorado so far, especially as a cannabis enthusiast it’s a great place to be. There’s stuff that’s here, product wise that every cannabis enthusiast all over the country is following on Instagram, and you’re in the center of it. It’s truly interesting talking to different people about the laws because people think of that Colorado as the apex number one of legalization, but there’s a lot of things going on here maybe need to be reformed.
I was talking to someone yesterday that runs a dispensary in Fort Collins called Organic Alternatives and he was great. He was telling me about the regulations, and how they need to id people twice no matter what. Not just that, there are not any social use clubs. We were talking about the importance of that like we’re here at Grandma’s House–this great little hang out–and I don’t see why you can’t have an establishment like this for using cannabis and not alcohol. Places like that are important because part of this whole thing is to relieve stress, and part of that is socializing. It’s great for medical patients to congregate and talk about what is working for them and what is not working. It becomes a group therapy. There needs to be a place for it to go.
CB: Tell me about your book ‘Cannabis: The Illegalization of Weed in America.’ What inspired you to write it?
BB: I was arrested for cannabis when I was 16 and it was a very traumatic experience for me at the time. It was only like six months after I first tried it. It was maybe the 10th time I’d ever tried it and I got arrested for it. It was scary. They took me down in handcuffs, I was with a friend and they took is in different cars, and I remember them speeding down one mile to the police station in this tiny town we lived in. Just to scare me. I had to go to court and was on probation, and had to go to a probation officer every Wednesday for like six months. I also saw the difference in how my case was looked at like I was able to administer my own urine test, whereas people of color or from a lower income area–like they weren’t allowed to do that. They were treated differently.
I definitely wouldn’t have done this book if that hadn’t have happened, and I wouldn’t have become as big as a cannabis enthusiast if it didn’t become this taboo thing. As a 16 year kid I was sitting there filled with rage and I didn’t understand it. No adults could explain it to me, like why is this illegal and why is alcohol treated so differently. It lit a fire under me, and ever since them, I’ve been interested in telling this story to anybody that would listen. I’ve had people tell me I’m probably going to disagree with everything in this book but I like all of your other books so I’m going to buy it anyway. I’m like I made this book for you because if you’re going to be making a decision about the way legalization is going to happen going forward, I think you should at least know the history and why it’s prohibited in the first place. A lot of people don’t know the great injustice that it’s been.
I think if people know the real history and aren’t just seeing the opportunity to exploit people who they see as lesser than because they use cannabis because there’s such a stigma against cannabis, maybe we’ll see more equitable laws and have like people really on our side, and not just pretending to be.
Written by Colleen Bement
