Yes We Cannabis: Another Obama Image Fiasco (update)

The official poster for the 2009 NORML Conference, designed by artist Sonia Sanchez.

According to today’s Washington Post, the image above incorporates a photograph of Mr. Obama during his Occidental College years. That’s not the problem. The problem lies with “the photographer. Lisa Jack, an Obama classmate at Occidental College, [who] snapped the image in 1980, one in a series of photos that never saw the light of day until she debuted them in Time’s 2008 Person of the Year issue. She had no idea her photo had been appropriated by NORML,” a nonprofit lobbying organization working to legalize marijuana.

NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre admits that the poster artist, Sonia Sanches, used the original photo image without permission, and of also selling posters of the image. St. Pierre argues that “our lawyers thought it was adulterated enough to comply with the fair use laws.” We hope they weren’t stoned.

According to the Post, Jack has already called the lawyers for Getty Images, which oversees her photo’s copyright.

UPDATE: August 18, 2008

The Obama/Joker poster artist has come forward.