Bill Murray has used his first Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) session to state his support for legalising marijuana.
The legendary comic actor is usually right about most things, so we think he might be onto something here. Here's what he had to say when a Reddit user asked him how he feels about legalising marijuana for recreational use.
"Well, that's a large question, isn't it? Because you're talking about recreation, which everyone is in favour of. You are also talking about something that has been illegal for so many years, and marijuana is responsible for such a large part of the prison population, for the crime of self-medication. And it takes millions and billions of dollars by incarcerating people for this crime against oneself as best can be determined.
"People are realising that the war on drugs is a failure, that the amount of money spent, you could have bought all the drugs with that much money rather than create this army of people and incarcerated people. I think the terror of marijuana was probably overstated. I don't think people are really concerned about it the way they once were. Now that we have crack and crystal and whatnot, people don't even think about marijuana anymore, it's like someone watching too many video games in comparison. The fact that states are passing laws allowing it means that its threat has been over-exagerated.
"Psychologists recommend smoking marijuana rather than drinking if you are in a stressful situation. These are ancient remedies, alcohol and smoking, and they only started passing laws against them 100 years ago."
During the session, Murray also revealed that he only agreed to be the voice of 'Garfield' because he thought the screenplay had been written by one of the Coen Brothers, Joel (it was actually written by Joel Cohen, with an 'h').
"I had a hilarious experience with 'Garfield'. I only read a few pages of it, and I kind of wanted to do a cartoon movie, because I had looked at the screenplay and it said "Joel Cohen" on it. And I wasn't thinking clearly, but it was spelled Cohen, not Coen. I love the Coen brothers' movies. I think that Joel Coen is a wonderful comedic mind. So I didn't really bother to finish the script, I thought, 'he's great, I'll do it'."
That explains a lot, doesn't it?
