If there’s one thing that nobody’s talked about this election cycle, it’s weed. According to a 2006 study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a government agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 25 million people smoke pot regularly in America. In a nation of 300 million people, we’d have 9 percent of Americans who smoke pot regularly. That’s a pretty good portion of the electorate, and I wonder how they’ll vote this year.

I recently had a political rumination session with one of my top advisers, Chad. We concluded that 99 percent of people who smoke pot regularly will vote for Sen. Barack Obama. These numbers aren’t official, and no polls to date have gauged where the marijuana vote stands, but I say weed smokers are probably going to vote for Obama.

But 99 percent isn’t 100 percent, and I met someone who not only smokes copious amounts of pot, but also disagrees with the B-man on just about everything. This particular pothead was pro-John McCain.

I thought it was odd that someone who benefits from a medicinal marijuana card would oppose a presidential candidate who has a more favorable view of marijuana, Obama , while supporting a candidate who strongly condemns the use of nuggets for medicinal or leisurely use, McCain.

Maybe I’m lucky and I met the only person in America who smokes a lot of pot and is voting for McCain. Maybe I discovered a hidden political undercurrent of ultra-conservative bong-rippers.

Let us ponder, for a hot second, which administration would be more likely to put America on a path to marijuana legalization.

Well that wasn’t hard, was it? Those who’ve developed a cultured political stance on weed through regular personal experimentation understand that there’s nothing too harmful about weed. Unless smoked at great length, it won’t do much more than get you high and let you relax. Hell, it may even help you write articles for the newspaper.

Unfortunately, if the country chooses McCain, in all his geriatric fury, our children will not live in a world where pot is smoked. They will continue to live in a world of cigarettes and alcohol — two substances with highly-documented health and social hazards.

If McCain wins the election, he will most definitely sculpt a legislative path to complete marijuana illegalization. That’s a funny thing to think about — a weedless America — but I assure you, it’s no laughing matter. Think to yourself about how McCain would assign the responsibilities of the Drug Enforcement Administration upon his assumption of the presidency. Every new president sets the tasks and missions of the agencies within the executive branch; what do you think McCain’s mission statement for the DEA would be? Free bubblers? Get real.

By the end of his first term, expect McCain to tighten the borders of Mexico and Canada in such a way that not even a gram of the finest Mexican oregano would make it into the States. Under an Obama presidency, we would most likely see a reconfiguration of the DEA to deal more in supply reduction of harsher drugs, while steering enforcement mechanisms away from ensnaring pot smokers and state-sanctioned medicinal dispensaries.

I do know Obama’s smoked a joint, and probably enjoyed it. He’s empathetic to the problems that certain drugs create here in America (like methamphetamines and heroine), while understanding that other “drugs” (marijuana) pose no significant social threat.

So the choice is to you this election, and the future of weed rests in your hands. Vote accordingly.