EB: Yes, it's a political travesty that has hurt and unnecessarily incarcerated millions of good people for too long. It's about my reaction to injustice and the helplessness that so many of us feel because of big government and politicians to whom we have given too much power, allowing them to create unjust laws with cruel and oppressive punishments. And with unfair mandatory sentencing, we have created a new class of modern day slaves.
My own willingness to speak out on the big lie about cannabis came late in my life, but not too late to try to do something about it. I'd been around marijuana since the '70s, and the biggest worry people had was getting caught. We never realized that, for so many decades, our prison system was growing with human beings being incarcerated for profit. One can easily assume the reason is the pervasive abuses of our legal system.
Never a news junkie, I was unaware that our government had begun contracting with private prisons to incarcerate people for profit as far back as 1852 when San Quentin (now a state facility) was the first for-profit prison in the U.S.
JB: I didn't know that.
EB: The recent resurgence in private prisons came in the wake of widespread privatization that took place during the 1980s. The rest is history: how we have become the number one country in the world for incarcerating its citizens and mostly for non-violent, victimless crimes. How obscene it that?
Bottom line -- I had to write about it! People are getting the message and finally pointing the finger at politicians for their collective hypocrisy. They support the continued development of lethal pharmaceutical drugs that are killing people, while putting people in jail for a substance that does no harm. It's hard not to blame our own apathy for not seeing it coming. Hopefully, with this issue in people's minds, the laws will change and we can make prisons for profit a thing of the past and educate people to the benefits of medicinal cannabis.
We have finally started to mobilize. I will be forever grateful to celebrities like Bill Maher and Jon Stewart, whose courage to speak out, has empowered other people to do the same. Me, for one!
I think that Who's The Pusher Now? is my absolute best songwriting effort to date. Good friend and award-winning singer songwriter, Nick Annis, contributed a verse. My son, Brett Segal, produced the song. He produces all my music, including a new CD coming out this fall. As for the music video, my younger son Todd Segal, an award-winning filmmaker, created and produced all of the motion graphics that have amazed everyone who has seen the video. A true family project, which has been nominated for several music and video awards!
JB: The song and the video are indeed amazing and a wonderful demonstration of your family's collaboration. What kind of response have you gotten so far?
EB: Awesome! People have been tweeting me from everywhere! The music video is featured on ROKU/WeedTV and, because of the internet, I have received fan messages from around the world. People are amazed by the graphics, the song and the concept.
The making of Who's The Pusher Now? music video was a first rate bi-coastal team effort. We started production in South Florida with veteran filmmaker, Robert Baldwin, filming me and all the "criminals" live on a green screen. Then, we sent the footage to Todd in LA for editing and post production.
JB: Your bi-coastal efforts paid off and the rest is history. I first heard about you and Who's the Pusher Now? through legalizepot.us. Are you involved with that organization or did they just get permission to feature your video on their website?
EB: Steven Machat is the owner of Legalizepot.us. He's promoting the legalization and production of all things derived from cannabis and hemp. He's also promoting Who's The Pusher Now? He has enlisted the help of Stephen Aristei, from Creative Talent Management - The Rights Company (and former General Manager of Warner Bros. Music, back in the '70s).
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