Three men who identify themselves as former police officers smoke marijuana and get high on camera in a new video released in time for "420," the annual marijuana holiday.
All of the men say that they had previously smoked weed, but not for decades. And while none recalled arresting anyone for a marijuana crime during their law enforcement career, one did remember seizing "a lot of pot" from people.
According to Cut Video, the same company that brought the Internet three grandmas who smoke pot for the first time ever, the footage was shot in Washington state, where recreational marijuana was legalized in 2012.
As the effects of the marijuana begin to sink in, the former law enforcement officers are asked to participate in a field sobriety test, play Cards Against Humanity and chat openly about the futility of prohibition.
"I think it should be legal, I think it should be more widely available for medical reasons," one of the men says. "It's like the last piece of prohibition."
When asked by the filmmakers if the ex-cops thought marijuana to be a gateway drug, one of the men answered that he believed it could be, while another debunked his colleague's answer.
"If you look at it, everyone who is a heroin addict started off drinking milk," the ex-cop says. "I mean that's the argument about marijuana and I'm not sure that's true."
Later, he adds, "Also, it costs more to put somebody in prison [for drugs] -- not jail, but prison -- than it costs to send them to Harvard."
One of the men argues that a good reason to legalize marijuana is that it takes the guesswork out of the product a person is buying.
"I mean some of the stuff you can get on the street now, you don't know what is going to happen to you," the man says. "[With legalization], you've got a quality product and you know what it is, where it came from and what it's going to do to you."
Marijuana enthusiasts have a lot to celebrate this 4/20. Attitudes are changing rapidly on marijuana policy in the U.S. Several recent polls show that a majority of Americans across party lines continue to support legalization nationally.
Recreational marijuana is now legal in four states and the District of Columbia. Twenty-three states have legalized marijuana for medical purposes, and 19 states have decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use.
Criminal marijuana charges have dramatically dropped in states that have ended prohibitions of the substance.
While marijuana remains banned at the federal level, a growing number of lawmakers are seeking broad reforms to federal policy surrounding the plant. They continue to introduce legislation that could significantly roll back drug war policies, signaling that the biggest 420 celebration is still to come.
Read more about the history of "Weed Day" here and have a happy and safe 420!
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