Margaret Atwood is Canadian literary royalty: the bestselling author, poet, and environmental activist has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize five times, won two Governor General's Awards, and was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2001.
It's both totally awesome, and slightly surprising, to see Atwood, 76, coming out strongly on social media in support of legalizing cannabis. Here's are some thoughts she's tweeted about the issue.
It's also her birthday, so send her your best wishes, on Twitter of course.
1. Atwood circulated a petition in support of regulating and legalizing pot to keep it out of the hands of minors.
[PETITION] Keep marijuana out of our kids' hands. Regulate and legalize it. http://t.co/xH9O0xs3u9 via @liberal_party
— Margaret E. Atwood (@MargaretAtwood) August 30, 2014
2. She also shared Jesse Kline's January 2014 National Post piece hailing the "beginning of the end" of marijuana prohibition. In the piece, the National Post Comment Editor states, "the idea that allowing adults to freely decide what substances to put in their own bodies is somehow an endorsement of said substances is also completely false. People who don't want to smoke marijuana are not going to start, just because it is available in stores."
Jesse Kline: Anti-marijuana arguments go up in smoke http://t.co/GZO7CNogIU via @fullcomment
— Margaret E. Atwood (@MargaretAtwood) January 10, 2014
3. She appears to support the idea of legal cannabis as a potential revenue stream for Canada in the future - pointing to the example already being set in the U.S.
Economic argument for legal #marijuana: save taxpayer $$$$, create revenue: http://t.co/Q9bCA3b1Ex
— Margaret E. Atwood (@MargaretAtwood) November 24, 2013
Many US states doing to some degree.
4. According to Atwood, it's also pretty clear what the Canadian public thinks about the issue.
Conservatives’ war on #pot seems to put them out of step with Canadian public http://t.co/SH8VvQZ9U0 via @nationalpost #cdnpoli
— Margaret E. Atwood (@MargaretAtwood) August 14, 2015
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