Lately it\u2019s come to seem as if most of the former politicians who\u2019ve entered the marijuana industry were unhelpful or downright hostile to legalization when they were in office. But on Friday, a cannabis company announced an addition to its board who disrupts that narrative: a former Republican congressman who has a consistent legislative record of cosponsoring and voting for marijuana reform measures.<\/p>\n
The multi-state cannabis businesses Red White & Bloom Brands Inc. (RWB) is bringing on former Rep. Ryan Costello (R-PA) to help it navigate the complicated regulatory space, drawing on his experience in Congress as the company works to expand.<\/p>\n
Costello certainly isn\u2019t the only Republican lawmaker who\u2019s made the transition from Capitol Hill to the cannabis market. But he is a rare example of a politician who actually embraced enacting marijuana policy changes while he was in power before standing to profit from the industry. The congressman cosponsored a variety of bills\u2014including ones to shield states that legalize cannabis from federal interference\u2014and supported several reform amendments.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to utilizing my 15+ years of service in government, the legal profession, and my familiarity with cannabis policy to be a strategic resource for RWB as it positions itself as a true market leading house of brands in the permitted U.S. marketplace,\u201d Costello said<\/a> in a press release.<\/p>\n This breaks with a trend that has increasingly frustrated advocates, where it seems the people most inclined to benefit from legalization are those who stood in the way in Congress. The best-known example of that is former GOP House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), who\u2019s faced criticism from activists over his anti-legalization record while in office before joining the board of marijuana company Acreage Holdings<\/a>.<\/p>\n While Costello left Congress in 2019 prior to the historic House vote on a standalone bill to federally deschedule cannabis, there are plenty of examples of him supporting more modest reform proposals during his congressional tenure.<\/p>\n He was a cosponsor of legislation to protect state marijuana markets from federal intervention, promote cannabis research, support military veterans\u2019 access to medical marijuana, protect banks that service state-legal cannabis businesses and legalize industrial hemp.<\/p>\n The congressman also voted in favor of floor amendments to shield all state marijuana programs from Justice Department intervention, allow Department of Veterans Affairs doctors to recommend medical cannabis and end hemp prohibition.<\/p>\n In that respect, he was a rare GOP lawmaker. While the issue is increasingly bipartisan among the public, that hasn\u2019t been reflected in Congress. And now Costello is in a position to leverage his legislative experience to advance a marijuana business\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an exception to the trend.<\/p>\n For example, Tom Price, the former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) head under President Donald Trump, is serving as a member of the board of directors for a medical marijuana business in Georgia<\/a> after he refused to take action to reclassify cannabis under federal law when he had the power to do so. Price consistently voted against marijuana reform measures while serving in Congress.<\/p>\n Former Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN), who also has a long track record of opposing marijuana legalization efforts, joined a Canadian cannabis company\u2019s board in 2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, a New York-based lobbying firm that\u2019s headed by a former Republican U.S. senator announced that it is launching a practice focused on serving cannabis businesses. That former senator, Alfonse D\u2019Amato, racked up a record of supporting the war on drugs<\/a> while in office.<\/p>\n There is at least one other former GOP congressman who entered the cannabis space with a legislative record supporting marijuana reform. Former Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), who championed cannabis reform while in Congress, became an advisory board member for a marijuana company<\/a> after being voted out of office in 2018.<\/p>\n Separately, President Joe Biden\u2019s pick to head up federal drug policy\u00a0worked for a major marijuana business<\/a>\u00a0last year, according to his financial disclosure reports.<\/p>\n California Activists Cleared To Collect Signatures For Psilocybin Legalization Ballot Initiative<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of WeedPornDaily<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Former GOP Congressman Who Actually Supported Marijuana Reform Enters The Cannabis Industry<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Lately it\u2019s come to seem as if most of the former politicians who\u2019ve entered the marijuana industry were unhelpful or downright hostile to legalization when they were in office. But on Friday, a cannabis company announced an addition to its board who disrupts that narrative: a former Republican congressman whoContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50004"}],"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\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50004"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50005,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50004\/revisions\/50005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Former GOP Congressman Who Actually Supported Marijuana Reform Enters The Cannabis Industry<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"