In a shock announcement from Acreage Holdings on April 11, former Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner revealed that he has joined the cannabis investment company, and hence, the cannabis industry.<\/p>\n
Boehner now finds himself with a place on the company\u2019s advisory board alongside former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, who was also announced in the statement.<\/p>\n
While Weld said<\/a> he has been supportive of medical marijuana since 1992, Boehner spent much of his political career working against cannabis legalization. For example, in 2011, Boehner reportedly told<\/a> one of his constituents that he was \u201cunalterably opposed to the legalization of marijuana or any other FDA Schedule I drug\u201d and that he was \u201cconcerned that legalization will result in increased abuse of all varieties of drugs, including alcohol.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m joining the board of #AcreageHoldings<\/a> because my thinking on cannabis has evolved. I\u2019m convinced de-scheduling the drug is needed so we can do research, help our veterans, and reverse the opioid epidemic ravaging our communities. @AcreageCannabis<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/f5i9KcQD0W<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) April 11, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n However,\u00a0Acreage Holdings<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 which has invested in companies that cultivate, process and dispense cannabis in 11 U.S. states \u2014 appears not to care about Boehner\u2019s anti-pot past. The announcement from Acreage featured a joint statement<\/a> from Boehner and Weld, where they did their best to get ahead of the forthcoming question of \u201cWhat on earth is going on?!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we come at this issue from different perspectives and track records, we both believe the time has come for serious consideration of a shift in federal marijuana policy,\u201d the statement read. \u201cOver the past 20 years a growing number of states have experimented with their right to offer cannabis programs under the protection of the 10th amendment. During that period, those rights have lived somewhat in a state of conflict with federal policy. Also, during this period, the public perception of cannabis has dramatically shifted, with 94% of Americans currently in favor of some type of access, a shift driven by increased awareness of marijuana\u2019s many medical applications.\u201d<\/p>\n The two former politicians also mentioned the realities that veterans<\/a> have to deal with obtaining cannabis outside the scope of the rest of their healthcare provided by the Veterans Administration. They also noted that they think Acreage \u201cwill transform the debate, policy and landscape around this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n Acreage Founder and CEO, Kevin Murphy, shared his thoughts on the two new additions to the company.<\/p>\n \u201cAcreage has a mission to make cannabis available to any patient who can benefit from safe and reliable access,\u201d said Murphy in the announcement. \u201cThe addition of Speaker Boehner and Governor Weld to our Board will lead to even greater access for patients by changing the conversation overnight. These men have shaped the political course of our country for decades and now they will help shape the course of this nascent but ascendant industry.\u201d<\/p>\n Many activists who worked to progress marijuana reform during Boehner\u2019s time in Washington, D.C. had mixed feelings on the news.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Mike Liszewski, who led the legislative efforts of Americans for Safe Access<\/a> on Capitol Hill during Boehner\u2019s tenure as Speaker of the House from 2011 to 2015, told Cannabis Now that Boehner \u201cwasn\u2019t really viewed as the problem\u201d when he was the speaker.<\/p>\n Liszewski never had any direct interaction with his office other than attempting to schedule a few meetings, he said, \u201cbut based on everything I remember, Boehner was essentially neutral on marijuana reform.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe voted against the then-Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment from 2003 to 2007, but didn\u2019t vote as Speaker when it came up as Rohrabacher-Farr in 2012, 2014 or 2015,\u201d said Liszewski. \u201cI\u2019ve heard Congressional staff say the Rules Committee is essentially an extension of leadership, which makes it notable that [Rules Committee chairman] Pete Sessions didn\u2019t block our amendments when Boehner was Speaker, he only did so once Ryan became Speaker.\u201d<\/p>\n But Liszewski wasn\u2019t giving Boehner a free pass.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not to say that he was even particularly good on marijuana reform, because he was in fact generally bad, but he was neutral enough to allow our floor votes to take place and let the cards fall where they may,\u201d said Liszewski.<\/p>\n That meant that when it came to marijuana, Boehner was probably better than two-thirds of his Republican colleagues on marijuana during his tenure as Speaker, said Liszewski, who added that Boehner \u201calso undeniably voted as an opponent [to marijuana legalization] during his tenure as a rank and file rep.\u201d<\/p>\n NORML <\/a>also issued a statement on Wednesday following the news.<\/p>\n \u201cJohn Boehner\u2019s evolution on marijuana legalization mirrors that of both the American public in general and Republicans specifically,\u201d said NORML Executive Erik Altieri, \u201cRecent polling finds that over 60 percent of Americans support adult use marijuana legalization<\/a>\u00a0and, for the first time, this percentage includes a majority of self-identified Republicans. Allowing states the flexibility and autonomy to set their own marijuana regulatory policies is consistent with conservatives\u2019 long-held respect for the Tenth Amendment, as well as with the party\u2019s recent embracing of populism.\u201d<\/p>\n Altieri positively noted that there is plenty Boehner has to offer the national dialogue with so much work still to be done.<\/p>\n \u201cRegardless of motive, former Speaker Boehner is still held in high regard by a large percentage of the GOP membership and voter base,\u201d said Altieri. \u201cWe look forward to his voice joining the growing chorus calling for an end to cannabis criminalization. Anything that expedites the ability for patients to access this safe and reliable treatment alternative, and that facilitates an end to the practice of arresting otherwise law abiding citizens for the possession of a plant should be welcomed with open arms.\u201d<\/p>\n TELL US,<\/strong> do you think former politicians should enter the cannabis industry?<\/p>\n The post John Boehner, Formerly Anti-Pot, Enters the Cannabis Industry<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
In a shock announcement from Acreage Holdings on April 11, former Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner revealed that he has joined the cannabis investment company, and hence, the cannabis industry. Boehner now finds himself with a place on the company\u2019s advisory board alongside former Massachusetts Gov.Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3922,50,3929,170,1170,3930,3899,901,146,42,210],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25301"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25301"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25302,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25301\/revisions\/25302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: John Boehner, Formerly Anti-Pot, Enters the Cannabis Industry<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"