John Oliver Hits Ridiculous Marijuana Regulations Hard

On Sunday night, HBO‘s reigning British deliverer of truth bombs John Oliver began the evening with a look at “Stupid Watergate”, Donald Trump, and the “most Devin Devin in the history of Devins”, Congressman Devin Nunes. Oliver tore into the ridiculous behavior of Trump and Nunes in the wake of the surveillance scandals plaguing the current administration, and proceeded to examine the consequences of another big shift across the pond: Brexit. The U.K.’s impending departure from the European Union has certainly elicited a mixed response from the British people, and Oliver condemned “Smug Dickhead Moisturizer” user Nigel Farage for his celebration of this tumultuous transition. After using emojis to describe his own reactions to Brexit, Oliver proceeded to Last Week Tonight‘s main story of the evening: marijuana (“basically catnip for people”).

After examining the weird “mixed bag” of people celebrating when marijuana referendums were passed on the same night as Trump’s election, Oliver revealed in the “good news” that 44 states now have “some form of medical marijuana law”, and 8 states have laws allowing recreational use. As of 2016, 60% of voters favor legalization, and Oliver compared this to our gradual acceptance of Mark Wahlberg as a serious actor: “you know what? Sure. I’ve decided I’m fine with that.”

Despite the fact that you may currently have marijuana completely legally, you could still be in jeopardy of losing your home, job, and possessions. The bizarrely fraught nature of the federal and state laws has caused individuals with disabilities to lose their jobs despite having a medical marijuana card, prevented veterans with PTSD from having access to the drug, and caused parents using marijuana to treat seizures to have their children taken away from them. Oliver also reflected on how difficult it is to have a marijuana business; because of the mixed messages of the laws, many of them are forced to pay all of their employees, taxes, and other fees in cash. The demonization of the drug  (by people like none other than Attorney Jeff Sessions) and the racist undertones that accompany the regulations have prevented individuals who truly need access to marijuana from being able to get the drug, and incarcerated a completely disproportionate number of African-Americans.

The plethora of issues with our outdated marijuana regulation may not seem to be dwindling, but there are a number of individuals now taking action to ensure that the laws progress. A “Cannabis Caucus” now exists in Washington D.C., and it’s even co-chaired by an 83-year-old Alaska Republican – so “it’s probably time for our laws to catch up”. Bills currently in motion propose to no longer classify marijuana as a controlled substance and instead rename the ATF the “Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Marijuana, Firearms, and Explosives”. Oliver spoke of ideal resolutions to our weed issue that would include a change in regulation and also the expunging of records for people convicted of low-level marijuana offenses. While all of this is seemingly too much work to be realistic, the importance should not be underestimated – and Oliver stresses that we should start “right now”.

To wrap things up, Oliver revisited the Bolivian traffic zebras he had requested viewers edit into whatever situation struck their fancy, and the results were delightful; people edited zebras into Mariah Carey’s New Year’s Eve catastrophe, that famous Basic Instinct interrogation scene, and the day Trump announced his candidacy. So, to recap? Get to work on marijuana regulation reform, and continue to #JustAddZebras.