This story broke a few days ago and unfortunately we missed it. But better late than never…

The other day I heard that Tiger Woods was entering therapy for sex addiction and I could not help but think how silly his whole situation was. Unfortunately, it seems that one of the figureheads in the marijuana movement has decided to go down the same path. On Tuesday Rob Kampia, the executive director and co-founder of the very infuleuntial Marijuana Policy Project, announced that he is taking a three month leave from his position so that he can get therapy for “his attitudes toward women.”

Apparently the incident in question arose after a drunken encounter with a female subordinate. It is unclear exactly what happend but Kampia acknowledges that “It is true I had consensual sex with a female employee and I exhibited poor judgment in doing so.” However it seems that this incident is not as simple and clear-cut as Kampia makes it seem because seven MPP employees (including the women) have resigned in the aftermath of the incident. According to The Reliable Source blog:

Some staffers described it as a final straw after years of witnessing Kampia’s “predatory behavior” in the office, said former membership director Salem Pearce. “He was known as someone who made crude and inappropriate comments about and to women,” she said. “The number-one perk for Rob about MPP was the access to young women.” Pearce was one of the women who resigned because she was convinced that Kampia and MPP’s board were not going to address the matter. “I realized Rob was more interested in keeping his job than the good of the organization,” she said.

All in all, this whole spectacle is a huge black eye for the Marijuana Policy Project and the marijuana movement in general. Also, it heightens the necessity of groups like the NORML Women’s Alliance. In fact one of the charter positions of the Women’s Alliance reads:

The NORML Women’s Alliance strongly opposes the sexual exploitation and objectification of women in pot-culture and business marketing.

After Kampia’s actions it is truly clear how prevalent the problem of objectification of women is in our culture and it is something we MUST strive to eliminate lest we become a group of isolated, obnoxious old men who only pretend to put on progressive airs and talk about issues such as equality, freedom, and justice out of the sides of our mouths.

As for Kampia, although I have held him in high regard in the past, a statement he made to The Reliable Source blog gives me pause. In response to the controversy he brought upon himself and his organization he tried to explain away his problems thusly, “I just think I’m hypersexualized.”

For more information on this story, we urge out to check out The Reliable Source.