Seth Rogen: Until cannabis becomes as accepted as beer, the black market will continue to thrive

For Seth Rogen, there would have been no Supergrave, En cloque, mode d'emploi or 50/50, without Cannabis.

«Every creative decision you've seen me make throughout my life was made after smoking weed,» recently declared Seth Rogen promoting his latest film, An American Pickle.

«I've been smoking weed all day every day for 20 years. For me, it's like glasses or shoes. It's something I need to navigate my life. added.

«People have tried to shame me about it over the years or tried to make me think I'm weak or stupid to incorporate cannabis so much into my life, but I'm almost 40 now, I'm married, I have a good job and I've simply realized that none of the clichés attributed to it are true.».

For Seth Rogen, highlighting how cannabis has helped fuel his creative process is necessary work in the ongoing fight against the stigma of cannabis. He now uses his influence to advocate amnesty of people convicted of cannabis-related crimes.

«Canadians deserve freedom, not forgiveness,» Rogen said last year in an Instagram post while promoting the Amnesty campaign for cannabis, a non-profit organization working for justice and fairness in cannabis in Canada.

Seth Rogen has lent his voice to similar campaigns in the U.S., including a video for National Amnesty Week.

«77 million people in the United States have criminal records...and a large portion of those records are for minor offenses and severely hinder the ability of millions of people to live, restricting access to employment, housing, education and voting rights. That doesn't help them and it doesn't help this country.»

In Canada, Seth Rogen also advocates the normalization of cannabis consumption, and suggests that loosening restrictions around the plant is one way to achieve this.

«There's a reason we don't buy alcohol illegally anymore. It's because no one is incentivized to sell illegally because they've made it very easy to sell alcohol,» he said. «The beer industry has been able to thrive in a way that the cannabis industry currently hasn't and until they are similar, the black market will continue to thrive.»

In addition to his activist vocation, Seth Rogen sells various cannabis-based products under the Houseplant brand, a partnership between Seth Rogen, his childhood friend Evan Goldberg and Canopy Growth. In addition to flowers, Houseplant recently launched a THC-infused lemon drink, in addition to a grapefruit THC drink launched earlier this year.