Rob Kampia, president of the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), was in New York City last week and came by for a visit.
We congratulated one another over progress toward marijuana reform (I do not use illegal drugs, preferring wine and occasionally beer with bourbon) and I reminisced on how the youthful sponsors in Colorado had launched their first initiative effort six years ago without any intention of raising funds or running a campaign.
I had been outraged when young Mason Twert, founder of SAFER, expressed his disinterest in a radio campaign that would have been funded by others. Twert had explained that the initiative purpose was to attract attention to the issue, and there was no intention of it being passed.
I had scolded him that a poor showing due to lack of promotion would make it much harder to gain support and raise funds for initiatives elsewhere.
Rob smilingly told me that he had totally agreed with me at the time… and we were both wrong!
He explained that on the first go around the initiative received about 43% support. Even if MPP and others had put a million dollars into the campaign, the result would not have been more than 3% better.
Twert’s strategy had generated growing interest and led to later success when significant funding could make a difference.
At a certain point in life, one can enjoy being proven wrong as much as having been right. Even Ted Willlams didn’t bat a 1000.
